Harnessing optical micro-combs for microwave photonics

In the past decade, optical frequency combs generated by high-Q micro-resonators, or micro-combs, which feature compact device footprints, high energy efficiency, and high-repetition-rates in broad optical bandwidths, have led to a revolution in a wide range of fields including metrology, mode-locked lasers, telecommunications, RF photonics, spectroscopy, sensing, and quantum optics. Among these, an application that has attracted great interest is the use of micro-combs for RF photonics, where they offer enhanced functionalities as well as reduced size and power consumption over other approaches. This article reviews the recent advances in this emerging field. We provide an overview of the main achievements that have been obtained to date, and highlight the strong potential of micro-combs for RF photonics applications. We also discuss some of the open challenges and limitations that need to be met for practical applications.Comment: 32 Pages, 13 Figures, 172 Reference

Optical frequency comb technology for ultra-broadband radio-frequency photonics

The outstanding phase-noise performance of optical frequency combs has led to a revolution in optical synthesis and metrology, covering a myriad of applications, from molecular spectroscopy to laser ranging and optical communications. However, the ideal characteristics of an optical frequency comb are application dependent. In this review, the different techniques for the generation and processing of high-repetition-rate (>10 GHz) optical frequency combs with technologies compatible with optical communication equipment are covered. Particular emphasis is put on the benefits and prospects of this technology in the general field of radio-frequency photonics, including applications in high-performance microwave photonic filtering, ultra-broadband coherent communications, and radio-frequency arbitrary waveform generation.Comment: to appear in Laser and Photonics Review

High-speed Modelocked Semiconductor Lasers And Applications In Coherent Photonic Systems

1.55-µm high-speed modelocked semiconductor lasers are theoretically and experimentally studied for various coherent photonic system applications. The modelocked semiconductor lasers (MSLs) are designed with high-speed (\u3e5 GHz) external cavity configurations utilizing monolithic two-section curved semiconductor optical amplifiers. By exploiting the saturable absorber section of the monolithic device, passive or hybrid mode-locking techniques are used to generate short optical pulses with broadband optical frequency combs. Laser frequency stability is improved by applying the Pound-Drever-Hall (PDH) frequency stabilization technique to the MSLs. The improved laser performance after the frequency stabilization (a frequency drifting of less than 350 MHz), is extensively studied with respect to the laser linewidth (~ 3 MHz), the relative intensity noise (RIN) (\u3c -150 dB/Hz), as well as the modal RIN (~ 3 dB reduction). MSL to MSL, and tunable laser to MSL synchronization is demonstrated by using a dual-mode injection technique and a modulation sideband injection technique, respectively. Dynamic locking behavior and locking bandwidth are experimentally and theoretically studied. Stable laser synchronization between two MSLs is demonstrated with an injection seed power on the order of a few microwatt. Several coherent heterodyne detections based on the synchronized MSL systems are demonstrated for applications in microwave photonic links and ultra-dense wavelength division multiplexing (UD-WDM) system. In addition, efficient coherent homodyne balanced receivers based on synchronized MSLs are developed and demonstrated for a spectrally phase-encoded optical CDMA (SPE-OCDMA) system

Nonlinear dynamics induced by optical injection in optical frequency combs generated by gain-switching of laser diodes

We present experiments and numerical simulations of optical frequency combs generated by gain-switching a single mode laser diode when subject to optical injection. Our analysis focuses on the combs with a frequency separation fR in the GHz range. We present experimental maps in the parameter space spanned by the detuning and the strength of the optical injection that identify the boundaries between regions with different dynamical states. A rich variety of nonlinear behaviors including injection-locked, unlocked and irregular combs are observed and analyzed. The dynamical state corresponding to an injection locked comb, PN, is characterized by an optical phase oscillation with a well defined amplitude in such a way that repeats or changes in 2? with an N/f R period, where N is a natural number. Different regions of locked combs with a tongue shape around detuning values given by multiples of f R appear in the maps. P1 and P2 are the most widespread locked states for large values of the modulation amplitude. As this amplitude decreases a much larger variety of PN states with large values of N appear in small area regions of the map. Our numerical simulations are in very good agreement with experimental results.This work was supported by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain under Grants RTI2018-094118-B-C21 and RTI2018-094118-B-C22, and by Comunidad de Madrid, European Structural Funds (P2018/NMT-4326) and APOYO-JOVENES-KXHJ8C-16-VCKM78

Continuous wave sub-THz photonic generation with ultra-narrow linewidth, ultra-high resolution, full frequency range coverage and high long-term frequency stability

We report on a photonic system for generation of high quality continuous-wave (CW) sub-THz signals. The system consists on a gain-switching-based optical frequency comb generator (GS-OFCG), a two-optical-modes selection mechanism and a n-i-pn-i-p superlattice photomixer. As mode selection mechanism, both selective tunable optical filtering using Fabry&-Pérot tunable filters (FPTFs) and Optical Injection Locking (OIL) are evaluated. The performance of the reported system surpasses in orders of magnitude the performance of any commercially available optical mm-wave and sub-THz generation system in a great number of parameters. It matches and even overcomes those of the best commercially available electronic THz generation systems. The performance parameters featured by our system are: linewidth $<$10 Hz at 120 GHz, complete frequency range coverage (60&-140 GHz) with a resolution in the order of 0.1 Hz at 120 GHz ({hbox{10}} -12} of generated frequency), high long term frequency stability (5 Hz deviation over one hour). Most of these values are limited by the measurement instrumentation accuracy and resolution, thus the actual values of the system could be better than the reported ones. The frequency can be extended straightforwardly up to 1 THz extending the OFCG frequency span. This system is compact, robust, reliable, offers a very high performance, especially suited for sub-THz photonic local oscillators and high resolution spectroscopy.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology through the Project TEC2009-14525-C02-02. The work of Á. R. Criado has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology under the FPI Program, Grant BES2010-030290

Coherent multi-mode dynamics in a Quantum Cascade Laser: Amplitude and Frequency-modulated Optical Frequency Combs

We cast a theoretical model based on Effective Semiconductor Maxwell-Bloch Equations and study the dynamics of a multi-mode mid-Infrared Quantum Cascade Laser in Fabry Perot with the aim to investigate the spontaneous generation of optical frequency combs. This model encompasses the key features of a semiconductor active medium such as asymmetric,frequency-dependent gain and refractive index as well as the phase-amplitude coupling of the field dynamics provided by the linewidth enhancement factor. Our numerical simulations are in excellent agreement with recent experimental results, showing broad ranges of comb formationin locked regimes, separated by chaotic dynamics when the field modes unlock. In the former case, we identify self-confined structures travelling along the cavity, while the instantaneous frequency is characterized by a linear chirp behaviour. In such regimes we show that OFC are characterized by concomitant and relevant amplitude and frequency modulation

Stable mode-locked pulses from mid-infrared semiconductor lasers

We report the unequivocal demonstration of mid-infrared mode-locked pulses from a semiconductor laser. The train of short pulses was generated by actively modulating the current and hence the optical gain in a small section of an edge-emitting quantum cascade laser (QCL). Pulses with pulse duration at full-width-at-half-maximum of about 3 ps and energy of 0.5 pJ were characterized using a second-order interferometric autocorrelation technique based on a nonlinear quantum well infrared photodetector. The mode-locking dynamics in the QCLs was modelled and simulated based on Maxwell-Bloch equations in an open two-level system. We anticipate our results to be a significant step toward a compact, electrically-pumped source generating ultrashort light pulses in the mid-infrared and terahertz spectral ranges.Comment: 26 pages, 4 figure