Battery-operated integrated frequency comb generator

Brian Stern, Xingchen Ji, Yoshitomo Okawachi, Alexander L. Gaeta and Michal Lipson ()
Additional contact information
Brian Stern: Cornell University
Xingchen Ji: Cornell University
Yoshitomo Okawachi: Columbia University
Alexander L. Gaeta: Columbia University
Michal Lipson: Columbia University

Nature, 2018, vol. 562, issue 7727, 401-405

Abstract: Abstract Optical frequency combs are broadband sources that offer mutually coherent, equidistant spectral lines with unprecedented precision in frequency and timing for an array of applications1. Frequency combs generated in microresonators through the Kerr nonlinearity require a single-frequency pump laser and have the potential to provide highly compact, scalable and power-efficient devices2,3. Here we demonstrate a device—a laser-integrated Kerr frequency comb generator—that fulfils this potential through use of extremely low-loss silicon nitride waveguides that form both the microresonator and an integrated laser cavity. Our device generates low-noise soliton-mode-locked combs with a repetition rate of 194 gigahertz at wavelengths near 1,550 nanometres using only 98 milliwatts of electrical pump power. The dual-cavity configuration that we use combines the laser and microresonator, demonstrating the flexibility afforded by close integration of these components, and together with the ultra low power consumption should enable production of highly portable and robust frequency and timing references, sensors and signal sources. This chip-based integration of microresonators and lasers should also provide tools with which to investigate the dynamics of comb and soliton generation.

Keywords: Frequency Comb; Comb Generation; Microresonators; Equidistant Spectral Lines; Reflective Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (RSOA) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0598-9 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:562:y:2018:i:7727:d:10.1038_s41586-018-0598-9

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0598-9

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().