Impact of dispersion on amplitude and frequency noise in a Yb-fiber laser comb

We describe a Yb-fiber-based laser comb, with a focus on the relationship between the net-cavity dispersion and frequency noise on the comb. While tuning the net-cavity dispersion from anomalous to normal, we measure the relative intensity noise, offset frequency (f(CEO)) linewidth, and the resulting frequency noise spectrum on the f(CEO). We find that the laser operating at zero net-cavity dispersion has many advantages, including an approximately 100× reduction in free-running f(CEO) linewidth and frequency noise power spectral density when compared to the normal-dispersion regime. At the zero-dispersion point, we demonstrate a phase-locked f(CEO) beat with low residual noise.     

低相噪光学频率梳

光学频率梳是光钟的重要组成部分,相噪是光梳的基本特性。文章从光梳相噪的描述方法入手,对光学频率梳相噪产生的几种常见来源及相噪抑制技术进行了综述,详细介绍了业已实现的几种低相噪光学频率梳。文末展望了未来低相噪光学频率梳的发展新趋势。     

An Yb-fiber frequency comb phase-locked to microwave standard and optical reference

We present a fully stabilized Yb-fiber frequency comb locked to a microwave standard and an optical reference separately. The carrier-envelope offset frequency is generated by a standard f–2f interferometer with 40 dB signal-tonoise ratio. The offset frequency and the repetition rate are stabilized simultaneously to the radio frequency reference for more than 30 hours, and the fractional Allan deviation of the comb is the same as the microwave standard of 10^-12 at 1 s.Alternatively, the comb is locked to an ultra-stable optical reference at 972 nm using an intracavity electro-optic modulator,exhibiting a residual integrated phase noise of 458 mrad(1 Hz–10 MHz) and an in-loop tracking stability of 1.77× 10^-18 at 1 s, which is significantly raised by six orders comparing to the case locked to the microwave frequency standard.     

Broadband optical frequency comb generation with a phase-modulated parametric oscillator

We introduce a novel broadband optical frequency comb generator consisting of a parametric oscillator with an intracavity electro-optic phase modulator. The parametric oscillator is pumped by 532-nm light and produces near-degenerate signal and idler fields. The modulator generates a comb structure about both the signal and the idler. Coupling between the two families of modes results in a dispersion-limited comb that spans 20 nm (5.3 THz). A signal-to-noise ratio of >30 dB in a 300-kHz bandwidth is observed in the beat frequency between individual comb elements and a reference laser.     

光学频率梳非线性传输及其在相位噪声探测中的应用

光纤传递链路中相位噪声探测是基于光纤的精确射频标准传递系统中重要组成部分。为解决光纤链路相位噪声探测中节点反射干扰的问题, 本文基于广义非线性薛定谔方程, 理论上研究了窄带光学频率梳在色散位移光纤中的非线性光学传播特性。在理论分析的基础上, 结合密集波分复用架构, 提出了一种基于锁模光学频率梳进行光纤传递射频信号的相位噪声探测新技术, 克服了节点反射干扰, 给出了初步实验验证。     

Optical frequency comb generation using a quasi-velocity-matched Fabry-Perot phase modulator

We report about the optical frequency comb generation by means of a bulk type phase modulator with periodic domain inversion. The phase modulator operates as a quasi-velocity-matched electro-optical phase modulator having high modulation efficiency. It is possible to generate a broadband optical frequency comb by using the modulator installed into an Fabry-Perot resonator. In this experiment, we made the quasi-velocity-matched phase modulator and then used it to generate the efficient optical frequency comb. From this result, we could confirm operation characteristics of the optical frequency comb and the utility of the phase modulator respectively.     

High-power Yb-fiber comb with feed-forward control of nonlinear-polarization-rotation mode-locking and large-mode-area fiber amplification

We report on a simple scheme to precisely control carrier-envelope phase of a nonlinear-polarization-rotation mode-locked self-started Yb-fiber laser system with an average output power of ～7 W and a pulse width of 130 fs. The offset frequency was locked to the repetition rate of ～64.5 MHz with a relative linewidth of ～1.4 MHz by using a self-referenced feed-forward scheme based on an acousto-optic frequency shifter. The phase noise and timing jitter were calculated to be 370 mrad and 120 as, respectively.     

Optoelectronic oscillator using a LiNbO3 phase modulator for self-oscillating frequency comb generation

Optical frequency comb generation by using a novel optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) is proposed and demonstrated with the emphasis placed on self-oscillating operation. In the OEO, a wideband LiNbO3 phase modulator is driven with a large-amplitude radio-frequency (RF) feedback signal to generate a deeply phase-modulated light wave; accordingly, an optical frequency comb with a bandwidth greater than the RF signal is generated by self-oscillation. Although it generates multifrequency components, the OEO exhibits characteristics of a single-mode oscillator. Its operation is stable and self-starting. An optical frequency comb with a 120 GHz bandwidth and 9.95 GHz frequency spacing was successfully generated by self-oscillation at a single frequency.     

Generation and noise analysis of a wide-band optical -frequency comb based on recirculating frequency shifter

By optimizing the gain configuration and length of the loop, a 90-tone optical frequency comb （OFC） is successfully generated based on recirculating frequency shifter structure. The peak-to-peak power fluctuation of the 90-tone OFC is 4.26 dB and the tone-to-noise ratio is higher than 19.17 dB. To further analyze the noise accumulation feature of the tones when travelling around the loop, linewidth of the tones is measured by delayed self-heterodyne interferometer structure. The result shows the linewidth of the tones deteriorates little during the recirculating process, indicating that the generated OFC is an ideal multi-wavelength source for high-speed communication svstems.     

Cavity-enhanced similariton Yb-fiber laser frequency comb: 3 x 10(14) W/cm2 peak intensity at 136 MHz

We report on a passive cavity-enhanced Yb-fiber laser frequency comb generating 230 MW of peak power (3 kW of average power) at a 136 MHz pulse repetition rate. The intracativy peak intensity of 3 x 10(14) W/cm2 for the 95 fs pulse is sufficient to ionize noble gases, such as Xe, Kr, or Ar. The laser system is based on a mode-locked Yb-fiber similariton oscillator in conjunction with a cladding-pumped chirped-pulse fiber amplifier. After recompression, 75 fs duration pulses at a 13.1 W average power are obtained. These pulses are then coherently added inside a passive ring cavity by controlling the fiber oscillator's pulse repetition rate and carrier-envelope offset frequency. This system is well suited for studying high-field phenomena at very high pulse repetition rates.     

激光的相位噪声特性以及抑制方法研究

回顾了到目前为止激光相位噪声的研究成果,阐述了由经典模型和弛豫振荡导致的在线宽展宽影响下的激光线宽。提出了自发辐射放大会对激光谱线产生进一步影响的问题。在噪声的抑制方面,分析了电子介入系统锁相方案的锁相效果。通过比较已锁相激光和未锁相激光与理想激光之间的互相关函数,结果表明,成功的锁相会使锁相激光的相干长度扩展到无限长。     

Wide-bandwidth phase lock between a CW laser and a frequency comb based on a feed-forward configuration

Wide-bandwidth phase lock between the tooth of a frequency comb and a CW extended-cavity diode laser at 1.55 μm is achieved by the use of an acousto-optical frequency shifter in a feed-forward configuration. The coherence properties of the comb are efficiently transferred to the CW laser, whose linewidth is narrowed down to the ～10 KHz comb level. A maximum control bandwidth of ～0.6 MHz has been experimentally achieved, limited by the transit time of the acoustic wave inside the frequency shifter.     

Full phase stabilization of a Yb:fiber femtosecond frequency comb via high-bandwidth transducers

We present full phase stabilization of an amplified Yb:fiber femtosecond frequency comb using an intracavity electro-optic modulator and an acousto-optic modulator. These transducers provide high servo bandwidths of 580 kHz and 250 kHz for f(rep) and f(ceo), producing a robust and low phase noise fiber frequency comb. The comb was self-referenced with an f-2f interferometer and phase locked to an ultrastable optical reference used for the JILA Sr optical clock at 698 nm, exhibiting 0.21 rad and 0.47 rad of integrated phase errors (over 1 mHz-1 MHz), respectively. Alternatively, the comb was locked to two optical references at 698 nm and 1064 nm, obtaining 0.43 rad and 0.14 rad of integrated phase errors, respectively.     

A spurious frequencies suppression method for optical frequency comb based microwave photonic filter

The traditional optical frequency comb (OFC) based microwave photonic filters (MPFs) are rigidly restricted to be operated in a single “Nyquist zone”, as varieties of spurious frequencies signals coexist in the output. Here, a method for spurious frequencies suppression in the OFC‐based MPF is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The method is achieved by applying group velocity dispersion on the carrier combs to separate the filter transfer functions of the spurious frequencies from that of the input radio frequency signal. It is fairly simple and effective, and has no effect on the filter characteristic. With this method, the filter pass band can be freely tuned without the limitation of the “Nyquist zone”. It can be considered as a step forward for the practical application of the OFC‐based MPF.     

High-resolution spectroscopy based on optical phase modulator and optical frequency comb

A phase modulation of an optical frequency comb has been applied to measure a fine spectrum in the 1.5 μm wavelength range by the optical heterodyne-detection method. The measurement frequency range covered 25 GHz, which satisfies the frequency interval of the optical frequency comb, with a spectral resolution of 1 MHz.     

低温接收机用低相噪频率源

介绍了实现P波段低相噪点频源的两种方法,分别分析倍频和锁相两种方法的基本原理,给出了实现电路形式,并测试两种电路的相位噪声,分别为-119.8d Bc/Hz@1k Hz和-114.6d Bc/Hz@1k Hz,对比了两种实现方法优劣。     

Characterization of an optical frequency comb using modified direct frequency comb spectroscopy

We introduce a method for determination of the absolute frequencies of comb lines within an optical frequency comb spectrum. The method utilizes the experimental and theoretical approach of the velocity-selective optical pumping of the atomic ground state hyperfine levels induced by resonant pulse-train excitation. The information on the laser pulse repetition frequency and carrier–envelope offset are physically mapped onto the ⁸⁷Rb ground state hyperfine level population velocity distributions. Theoretical spectra are calculated using an iterative analytic solution of the optical Bloch equations describing the resonant pulse-train excitation of four-level ⁸⁷Rb atoms. They are employed to fit the measured spectra and obtain the parameters of the frequency comb, thus providing a practical algorithm which can be used in real-time measurements.     

Broadband second harmonic generation of an optical frequency comb produced by four-wave mixing in highly nonlinear fibers

We demonstrate broadband second harmonic generation of low-energy pulses produced by injecting two single-frequency lasers into a highly nonlinear fiber. Full nonlinear conversion of the corresponding spectra, consisting of broadband (∼200 nm) optical frequency combs at ∼1580 nm, were obtained by using conventional birefringence phase-matching in two BIBO crystals (2-mm and 100-μm long) with a normal incidence configuration. The crystals were not tilted and the pulses were not compressed. This broadband conversion results from the large phase-matching bandwidth of the nonlinear BIBO crystals at ∼1550 nm, but also seems to be a consequence of a fundamental comb with small spectral phase variation.     

Octave-spanning frequency comb generation in a silicon nitride chip

We demonstrate a frequency comb spanning an octave via the parametric process of cascaded four-wave mixing in a monolithic, high-Q silicon nitride microring resonator. The comb is generated from a single-frequency pump laser at 1562?nm and spans 128?THz with a spacing of 226?GHz, which can be tuned slightly with the pump power. In addition, we investigate the RF amplitude noise characteristics of the parametric comb and find that the comb can operate in a low-noise state with a 30?dB reduction in noise as the pump frequency is tuned into the cavity resonance.     

Octave spanning tunable frequency comb from a microresonator

We report the generation of an octave-spanning optical frequency comb in a continuous wave laser pumped microresonator. The generated comb spectrum covers the wavelength range from 990 to 2170 nm without relying on additional external broadening. Continuous tunability of the generated frequency comb over more than an entire free spectral range is demonstrated. Moreover, the linewidth of individual optical comb components and its relation to the pump laser phase noise is studied. The ability to derive octave-spanning spectra from microresonator comb generators represents a key step towards f-2f self-referencing of microresonator-based optical frequency combs.