Highly coherent two-color laser and its application for low-noise microwave generation

Bibo He, Jiachuan Yang, Fei Meng (), Jialiang Yu, Chenbo Zhang, Qi-Fan Yang, Yani Zuo, Yige Lin, Zhangyuan Chen, Zhanjun Fang and Xiaopeng Xie ()
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Bibo He: Peking University
Jiachuan Yang: Peking University
Fei Meng: National Institute of Metrology
Jialiang Yu: Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt
Chenbo Zhang: Peking University
Qi-Fan Yang: Peking University
Yani Zuo: National Institute of Metrology
Yige Lin: National Institute of Metrology
Zhangyuan Chen: Peking University
Zhanjun Fang: National Institute of Metrology
Xiaopeng Xie: Peking University

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Two-color lasers with high coherence are essential for precision measurements and low-noise photonic microwave generation. However, conventional two-color lasers often suffer from reduced coherence when the frequency spacing is large. Here, we leverage the Pound-Drever-Hall technique to synchronize two lasers to a common ultra-stable optical reference cavity to break through the thermal noise constraint, achieving a highly coherent two-color laser. By overcoming non-common mode noise, we achieve an exceptional fractional frequency instability of 2.7 × 10−17 at 1 second, normalized to the optical frequency. To characterize coherence across large frequency spacings, we use electro-optical frequency division to transfer the stability of a 0.5 THz spaced two-color laser to a 25 GHz microwave signal. The resulting 25 GHz signals exhibit remarkable phase noise of − 74 dBc Hz−1 at 1 Hz and − 120 dBc Hz−1 at 100 Hz. Our results pave the way for a new era in precision measurement and light-matter interaction.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-59401-1

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