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Miniaturized lasers with multicolor output and high spectral purity are indispensable for various ultracompact photonic devices. Here, we propose an optically reconfigurable Forster resonance energ...

Semiconductor nanostructures with low dimensionality like quantum dots and quantum dashes are one of the best attractive and heuristic solutions for achieving high performance photonic devices. When one or more spatial dimensions of the nanocrystal approach the de Broglie wavelength, nanoscale size effects create a spatial quantization of carriers leading to a complete discretization of energy levels along with additional quantum phenomena like entangled-photon generation or squeezed states of light among others. This article reviews our recent findings and prospects on nanostructure based light emitters where active region is made with quantum-dot and quantum-dash nanostructures. Many applications ranging from silicon-based integrated technologies to quantum information systems rely on the utilization of such laser sources. Here, we link the material and fundamental properties with the device physics. For this purpose, spectral linewidth, polarization anisotropy, optical nonlinearities as well as microwave, dynamic and nonlinear properties are closely examined. The paper focuses on photonic devices grown on native substrates (InP and GaAs) as well as those heterogeneously and epitaxially grown on silicon substrate. This research pipelines the most exciting recent innovation developed around light emitters using nanostructures as gain media and highlights the importance of nanotechnologies on industry and society especially for shaping the future information and communication society., Quantum dot are one of the best practical examples of nanotechnologies. Owing to the discrete energy levels, quantum dot lasers output unique features like thermal stability, feedback insensitivity and spectral purity.

We designed, simulated, and experimentally demonstrated components for a microwave-frequency digital-to-analog converter based on single flux quantum (SFQ) circuits and an amplifier based on superconducting-quantum-interference-device (SQUID) stacks. These are key components for a self-calibrated programmable waveform reference for communications metrology capable of synthesizing high-frequency signals with quantum-based output accuracy. The amplifier is an SFQ voltage multiplier circuit that consists of a network of SFQ-splitters and SQUID transformers that provides output signals consisting of quantized pulses. The circuits were fabricated using our Nb/Nb $_{x}$ Si $_{1-x}$ /Nb Josephson-junction (JJ) fabrication process, which produces self-shunted JJs with Nb-doped silicon barriers. In order to demonstrate quantum-based reproducibility, stability and performance at 4 K, we synthesized single-tone and multitone waveforms at gigahertz frequencies and demonstrated their operation over a range of synthesizer output and experimental bias parameters. We also propose circuit designs for achieving higher synthesis frequencies and higher output power with improved power accuracy and spectral purity, and discuss the potential limitations of these circuits.

A novel photonics-assisted method for frequency up/down-conversion based on an integrated dual-polarization dual-parallel Mach–Zehnder modulator (DP-DPMZM) with tunable optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) and phase shift is presented. The local oscillator (LO) signal with high spectral purity and low phase noise is generated by an OEO loop in one of the sub-DPMZMs. The frequency can be adjusted by an electrical bandpass filter (EBPF). The radio frequency (RF) signal is injected into another sub-DPMZM. The carrier-suppressed single-sideband (CS-SSB) modulation of both the LO and RF signals is achieved. The phase of the converted signal can be tuned by an integrated dual-channel phase modulator (DPM). Frequency up/down-conversion can be switched by tuning a single bias voltage of the DP-DPMZM. Multiple functions, including tunable LO signal generation, up/down-conversion and phase shifting, can be realized. Moreover, dispersion-induced power fading is well compensated due to CS-SSB modulation. In the experiments, the tunable LO signal from 5 to 18 GHz, with a sidemode suppression ratio as high as 46.1 dB and a phase noise level of −104.5 dBc/Hz @ 10 kHz at 10 GHz, is generated successfully. The spur suppression ratios of the up/down-converted signals are 32.6 dB and 35.6 dB, respectively. The up/down conversion performance for RF carrying 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (16-QAM) signal is also investigated. The phase shifting of dual-channel converted signals can be varied continuously and independently in the range of 0–360°, and the phase deviation is ±1.8°. The proposed compact link is characterized by function multiplexing and inherent dispersion compensation.

Optical frequency combs (OFC) have revolutionized the field of optics ranging from metrology to radio-frequency photonics. One of the main advantages of an OFC is its spectral purity and broadband phase coherence. An increase in comb linewidth corresponds to elevated phase noise and system performance degradation that mandates larger processing complexity. A specialized processing scheme relying on Vernier OFC pair seeded by a single laser has highly correlated tones over the entire processing band. Recognizing this fact, this report describes a low complexity joint phase noise compensation scheme for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) receiver assisted by dual combs. 4-QAM modulated OFDM signals with 60 subcarriers were demodulated using a dual-comb OFDM receiver. The experiment measured the error vector magnitude (EVM) to validate the receiver performance. The new joint phase noise compensation algorithm can effectively suppress phase noise for high order tones without pilot channels and was shown to be robust under variable SNR levels.

Second harmonic generation (SHG) and frequency mixing of electrical signals are fundamental for a wide range of radiofrequency applications. Recently, ferroelectric field-effect transistors (FeFETs), made from ferroelectric hafnium oxide (HfO2), have demonstrated promising SHG capabilities because of their unique symmetric transfer curves. In this paper, we illustrate how this symmetry is highly sensitive to material properties by varying the thickness of the ferroelectric layer and the doping of the silicon substrate. We show that the SHG conversion gain and the spectral purity are greatly increased (up to 96%) by precisely tuning the ferroelectric polarization reversal and the quantum tunneling currents. Based on this, we propose and experimentally demonstrate the generation of the difference and of the sum of two input frequencies (frequency mixing) with a single FeFET, which we attribute to the inherently strong quadratic component of the symmetric transfer characteristics. Because of the reversible and continuous ferroelectric switching in HfO2, our approach allows for an electrical control of the energy distribution of spectral components, thus opening up new and very promising paths for frequency manipulations with simple ferroelectric devices.

Miniaturized lasers with high spectral purity and wide wavelength tunability are crucial for various photonic applications. Here we propose a strategy to realize broadband-tunable single-mode lasing based on a photoisomerization-activated intramolecular charge-transfer (ICT) process in coupled polymer microdisk cavities. The photoisomerizable molecules doped in the polymer microdisks can be quantitatively transformed into a kind of laser dye with strong ICT character by photoexcitation. The gain region was tailored over a wide range through the self-modulation of the optically activated ICT isomers. Meanwhile, the resonant modes shifted with the photoisomerization because of a change in the effective refractive index of the polymer microdisk cavity. Based on the synergetic modulation of the optical gain and microcavity, we realized the broadband tuning of the single-mode laser. These results offer a promising route to fabricate broadband-tunable microlasers towards practical photonic integrations.

Random fiber lasers (RFLs), which employ random distributed feedback (RDFB) provided by the intrinsic Rayleigh scattering (RS) along the passive fiber, have gained wide attention in the last decade. A major advantage of Raman gain based RFL is wavelength flexibility, and the so-called cascaded Raman conversion can extend the operating wavelength considerably. However, frequently used silica fibers often need multiple Raman shifts to reach the final desired wavelength due to its peak frequency shift of ∼13.2 THz. A good alternative is the phosphosilicate fiber which has a gain peak at ∼39.8 THz. Nevertheless, the simultaneous existence of silica-related and phosphorus-related gain peaks in the phosphosilicate fiber intensifies the gain competition, further limiting the power scaling and the enhancement of spectral purity, even making it difficult to reach the desired wavelength. In this article, we experimentally explored the influences of the pump wavelength and bandwidth on the lasing performance of a phosphosilicate RFL, and measured the extreme frequency shift of the phosphorus-related Raman gain peak. Besides, by the aid of a modified power balance model, we qualitatively simulated the impacts of pump spectrum and boundary condition on the laser output. The simulation agrees well with the experimental results, and may also explain the parasitic lasing in the prior reports of phosphosilicate RFLs. As a result, the extreme frequency shift of phosphosilicate RFL is measured to be ∼1 THz. And through optimizing the pump wavelength and pump bandwidth, 99.24% high spectral purity random lasing at 1237 nm with 33.1 W output power is obtained. This work may help to reveal the gain competition in phosphosilicate RFL and guide the future laser design.

Microwave synthesizers that are used to generate microwave signals for the CSF1 and CSF2 fountain clocks at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) are described. The synthesizers are based on a divider chain and a digital frequency synthesis and have been designed for use with an optically stabilized microwave oscillator. They have been designed in a modular fashion to assure long-term operation and low down times. The results of an in-depth examination of spectral purity, phase noise, and long-term phase stability are presented. Also, the implications of measured parameters on the fountain timing are assessed. Two methods of suppressing the frequency-shifting effect of microwave leakage fields are implemented, with one method in each synthesizer. The first method uses an interferometric switch, and the second uses a phase-coherent and phase-preserving frequency detuning scheme; their contribution to the systematic uncertainty of the fountains is assessed. The overall systematic uncertainty contribution associated with the fountain electronics is below $1 \times 10^{-17}$ for both fountain clocks.

While integrated photonics is a robust platform for quantum information processing, architectures for photonic quantum computing place stringent demands on high quality information carriers. Sources of single photons that are highly indistinguishable and pure, that are either near-deterministic or heralded with high efficiency, and that are suitable for mass-manufacture, have been elusive. Here, we demonstrate on-chip photon sources that simultaneously meet each of these requirements. Our photon sources are fabricated in silicon using mature processes, and exploit a dual-mode pump-delayed excitation scheme to engineer the emission of spectrally pure photon pairs through inter-modal spontaneous four-wave mixing in low-loss spiralled multi-mode waveguides. We simultaneously measure a spectral purity of 0.9904 ± 0.0006, a mutual indistinguishability of 0.987 ± 0.002, and >90% intrinsic heralding efficiency. We measure on-chip quantum interference with a visibility of 0.96 ± 0.02 between heralded photons from different sources., Suitability for large-scale quantum computation imposes severe requirements on single-photon sources in terms of purity, indistinguishability and heralding efficiency. Here, the authors boost all these figures of merit through a dual-mode pump-delayed four-wave mixing scheme in low-loss silicon waveguides.

In this article, we present a tunable GaSb-based blazed grating external cavity laser (BG-ECL) with high spectral purity and high output power single-mode operation around 1940nm. The drastic increase in spectral selectivity and optical power results from the employment of a single-transverse-mode operating narrow ridge waveguide laser diode with an optimized AR coating on the front facet. The stable fundamental spatial mode output beam from the laser diode enables efficient collimation and high coupling efficiency with the blazed grating, leading to stronger wavelength-selective feedback. The AR coating with proper low reflectivity on the straight waveguide effectively suppresses the internal cavity mode lasing without causing extra optical loss. As a result, the BG-ECL device exhibits excellent comprehensive performance with a side mode suppression ratio (SMSR) over 50 dB with optical power exceeding 30 mW within a 70 nm tuning range. A maximum SMSR of 56.26 dB with 35.12 mW output power was observed in continuous-wave operation. By increasing the working temperature of the diode laser, the tuning range can be further extended to over 100 nm without noticeable degradation in spectral and output power performance.

We present performance manipulation of the squeezed coherent light source based on four-wave mixing (FWM) in alkaline-earth atoms. We investigate the dynamic response of the system and the spectroscopic feature of lasing generated by resonantly enhanced wave-mixing in coherently prepared system. In this method, the spectral purity and stability of the wave-mixing lasing can be manipulated at will by choosing optimal laser parameters. We also analyze the effect of Langevin noise fluctuations on the system and the relative-intensity noise spectrum of the wave-mixing lasing is well below the standard quantum limit (down to -4.7 dB). This work opens new possibilities for alternative routes to laser stabilization and provides a promising path to realize precision metrology.

The simulation and design of an oversized, two-dimensional, periodic surface lattice (2D PSL) interaction cavity used within a 0.395 THz, pulsed radiation source is presented. Powerful, pulsed radiation with good spectral purity is demonstrated. The device is well-suited for use in DNP-NMR spectroscopy and has numerous other applications due to the scalability of the interaction cavity allowing for radiation output at different frequencies. The device exploits the coupling of volume and surface fields in the 2D PSL interaction cavity to excite a single cavity eigenmode. The observed output power is 13.5kW and the efficiency of the device is 27%

In this paper, we present a thorough investigation for a spontaneous parametric four-wave mixing process in third-order nonlinear waveguides with various continuous tapering patterns. It has been previously shown that these devices can quasi-phase-match the four-wave mixing process and enhance its conversion efficiency by orders of magnitude. By altering the tapering profile curve we found that these devices can enable single-photon sources with either narrow or broadband spectral widths at on-demand frequencies. Using our model, we were also able to identify the waveguide length at which the single-photon spectral purity is maximized.

An approach to generating microwave frequency combs (MFCs) with superior performance is proposed and experimentally demonstrated based on an optically injected semiconductor laser (OISL). In this scheme, an OISL subject to a short-delay optoelectronic feedback loop is firstly applied to produce the initial MFC based on Fourier domain mode-locking, and a long-delay loop is added to improve the signal quality based on the self-injection-locking technique. In the experimental demonstration, a K-band MFC (18–26 GHz) with a line-spacing of 8.45 MHz has been obtained, and the comb contrast ratio is over 45 dB. In addition, the generated MFC exhibited superior performance in terms of spectral purity. Each comb component has a linewidth below 500 Hz and a phase noise below −90 dBc/Hz at 10kHz offset, demonstrating an excellent phase coherence between each comb component.

We demonstrate noise suppression and precise phase control of a commercial 2.45GHz magnetron aiming for wireless power transfer application. The impurity of the microwave spectrum was confirmed to be due to the switching frequency of 76kHz in the power supply. With the decoupling capacitor installed to the output of the high-voltage power-supply driving the magnetron, the spectral purity of the magnetron was significantly enhanced. And we achieved extreme precision in phase-control (peak-to-peak 0.3°) for the high-power (1 kW) microwave magnetron by applying the phase locking loop to the noise-suppressed magnetron system.

Microwave Photonics is promising for generation and synthesis of radio frequency, microwave as well as millimeter wave signals of outstanding spectral purity and arbitrary wave form. High optical quality factors lead to the low noise of the signals. Small size of the optical components results in small form factor of the photonic devices. As such, the photonic oscillators outperform the majority of high frequency microwave ones of purely electronic nature. In this letter we review the major recent advances and trends as well as discuss future steps in the development of the field.

Micro-Spec is a direct-detection spectrometer which integrates all the components of a diffraction-grating spectrometer onto a ≈ 10 -cm2 chip through the use of superconducting microstrip transmission lines on a single-crystal silicon substrate. The second generation of Micro-Spec is being designed to operate with a spectral resolution of at least 512 in the far-infrared and submillimeter (420–540 GHz, 714–555 μm) wavelength range, a band of interest for NASA's experiment for cryogenic large-aperture intensity mapping called EXCLAIM. EXCLAIM will be a balloon-borne telescope that is being designed to map the emission of redshifted carbon monoxide and singly-ionized carbon lines over a redshift range 0 z 3.5 and it will be the first demonstration of the Micro-Spec technology in a space-like environment. This work reviews the status of the Micro-Spec design for the EXCLAIM telescope, with emphasis on the spectrometer's two-dimensional diffractive region, through which light of different wavelengths is focused on kinetic inductance detectors along the instrument focal plane. An optimization process is used to generate a geometrical configuration of the diffractive region that satisfies specific requirements on size, operating spectral range and performance. An initial optical design optimized for EXCLAIM is presented in terms of geometric layout, spectral purity and efficiency.

Non-iridescent structural colors with wide viewing angles are produced by amorphous photonic structure (APS) and have received increasing attention. However, it is still a challenge to fabricate of non-iridescent, crack-free and functional structural colors, simultaneously. Here, the flexible lamellar nanostructures of graphene oxide (GO) are introduced as a black additive to fabricate amorphous, crack-free structural colors. The color hue and spectral purity of APS film can be easily tuned by adjusting the diameter of spheres and concentration of GO. Furthermore, after reduction treatment, the APS film possesses excellent visibility, flexibility and conductivity, paving the way toward their practical applications in flexible sensors, solar cells and full-color paper-like displays.

A low-power spin-torque nano-oscillator (STNO)-based wireless communication is demonstrated with a 180 nm CMOS transmitter and receiver. The ON–OFF keying (OOK) modulation is employed to overcome the inherent drawbacks of the STNO, such as low output power and spectral purity, despite its advantages of a wide frequency tuning range and nano-scale dimensions. As the magnetic-tunnel-junction (MJT) STNO with an MgO barrier has a maximum oscillation power as small as −75 dBm at 3.39 GHz, a 68 dB high-gain amplification throughout the transmitter and receiver is needed for a 1 m wireless communication. A 36 dB high-gain amplifier with a 3.9 dB low noise figure is implemented for the OOK transmitter together with an external modulator. The receiver is composed of a 3.5 dB low-noise amplifier (LNA) with a high gain of 27 dB, gain-boosted envelope detector, and baseband amplifier. The transmitter and receiver amplifiers are implemented with a highly isolated ground between each stage in order to prevent oscillations even at the high gain. The communication system with the STNO achieves an 11.8 Mb/s wireless data transmission over 1 m, with a power consumption of 41.4 mW. The implemented transmitter and receiver occupy 2.34 and 4.08 mm2, including all of the pads, respectively. The proposed system achieves the highest data rate with the lowest power consumption compared to those of the previous state-of-the-art STNO-based wireless communication systems.

A novel photonic method for microwave downconversion by using a tunable optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) based on a phase-shifted fiber-Bragg grating (PS-FBG) and the polarization-multiplexed dual loop is proposed and investigated. By the virtue of the narrow notch bandwidth of the PS-FBG and the side-mode suppression of the optimized dual loop, the frequency tunable local oscillator (LO) signal with high spectral purity and low phase noise is generated by changing the frequency of the optical carrier from the laser source. The microwave downconversion is conducted directly by inputting the radio frequency (RF) signal into the OEO without any additional components. The experiment of the LO signal generation and the microwave downconversion is carried out. The frequency tunable LO signals from 2.5 to 7 GHz with the side-mode suppression ratio as high as 56 dB and the phase noise of −109 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz are generated successfully. By tuning the LO frequency generated by the proposed OEO, the RF signals with different frequencies from 3.5 to 8 GHz are converted to the same intermediate frequency band of 1 GHz. The spurious-free dynamic range of the downconversion system is measured to be 102.2 dB $\cdot $ Hz $^{2/3}$ . The downconversion performance for RF carrying 16 quadrature amplitude modulation signal is also analyzed.

The monochromator of the Kosmos synchrotron radiation metrology station is discussed. The results of testing the monochromator in the energy range 2000–6000 eV using Si (111) crystals are presented. A spectral resolution ΔE/E = 10−4 was obtained. A technique for checking the spectral purity of the monochromatic radiation is described. It is shown that the monochromator can be used for spectroscopic measurements in the indicated energy range.

This paper proposes a GaAs-pHEMT MMIC frequency doubler for 60 GHz radar area scanning application using 0.18 μm GaAs technology. The aim of this study is to enter a frequency f0 = 30 GHz and to recover at the output a frequency of 2*f0, i.e. 60 GHz. The proposed multiplier is designed and optimized thanks to OMMIC library. The latter gives to the proposed frequency doubler added values in term of circuit performances. Indeed, it has low power consumption Pdc = 0.126 mW, high spectral purity and small size; it occupies an area of (1.35 × 0.63mm2) and achieves a conversion gain of −2.189 dB and an output power of 11.376 dBm. The results show a total efficiency of around 13.87%.

Ultra-stable lasers of high spectral purity are the technological basis for optical atomic clocks, quantum measurements, stable microwave signal sources and high-resolution optical spectroscopy. For these purposes, lasers with a linewidth of the order of hertz are used. Such lasers are usually stabilized with Fabry-Perot resonators made of ultra-low expansion materials, which are very fragile and bulky. Therefore, there is a clear demand for reliable miniature lasers with narrow linewidths. Optical resonators with a "whispering gallery" mode (WGM) make it possible to create narrow-band microlasers on their basis using self-injection locking method. But they have not yet reached the stability determined by their fundamental noise. Here we calculate the noise characteristics of lasers self-injection locked to WGM microresonators and estimate the linewidth limitations due to thermorefractive, thermoelastic, photoelastic and Brownian noise. We also calculated the total noise in an integrated waveguide and obtained an estimate of the linewidth of 0.5 kHz at an averaging time of 1 s.

We propose a novel scheme for the expansion and comb densification of gain-switched optical frequency combs (GS-OFC). The technique entails mutual injection locking of two gain-switched lasers with a common master to generate a wider bandwidth OFC. Subsequently, the OFC is further expanded and/or densified using a phase modulator with optimum drive conditions. We experimentally demonstrate the generation of an OFC with 45 highly correlated lines separated by 6.25 GHz with an expansion factor ~3. In addition, operating in comb densification mode, the channel spacing of the OFC is tuned from 6.25 GHz to 390.625 MHz. Finally, a detailed characterization of the lines, across the entire expanded comb, is reported highlighting the excellent spectral purity with linewidths of ~40 kHz, a relative intensity noise better than −152 dB/Hz, and a high degree of phase correlation between the comb lines. The proposed method is simple, highly flexible and the architecture is suitable for photonic integration, all of which make such an OFC extremely attractive for the employment in a multitude of applications.

Preprocessing is a major area of interest in the field of hyperspectral endmember extraction, for it can provide a few high-quality candidates for fast endmember extraction without sacrificing endmember accuracy. We propose a superpixel-guided preprocessing (SGPP) algorithm to accelerate endmember extraction based on spatial compactness and spectral purity analysis. The proposed SGPP first transforms a hyperspectral image into low-dimension data using principal component analysis. SGPP then utilizes the superpixel method, which normally has linear complexity, to segment the first three components into a set of superpixels. Next, SGPP transforms low-dimension superpixels into noise-reduced superpixels and calculates their spatial compactness and spectral purity based on Tukey’s test and data convexity. SGPP finally retains a few high-quality pixels from each superpixel with high spatial compactness and spectral purity indices for subsequent endmember identification. Based on the spectral angle distance, root-mean-square error, and speedup, experiments are conducted on synthetic and real hyperspectral datasets, and they indicate that SGPP is superior to current state-of-the-art preprocessing techniques.

Optoelectronic oscillators (OEO) have become of paramount importance for the generation of high spectral purity, (optically-carried) microwave signals. The most widespread architecture uses a Mach-Zehnder Modulator as the generator of the RF modulation [1] . Direct modulation of the injection current of a semi-conductor laser, arguably the simplest possible OEO [2] , has been comparatively much less explored [3] .

Photonic generation and transmission of Linearly Chirped Microwave Waveform (LCMW) with a high Time-BandWidth Product (TBWP), of the order of 102 or more, is a widely used approach in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) payloads to realize high range resolution, improving the distinction between two or more targets on the same bearing. In standard payload systems, an electronic approach based on voltage-controlled oscillator or digital signal processing, is used as LCMW generator, with both limited TBWP and operating frequency. In this context, a photonic approach plays a crucial role, ensuring low phase noise, high TBWP and operation frequency of the order of GHz, with a significant reduction of mass and size with respect to the electronic counterparts. Here, we propose the design of a Ka-band photonic LCMW generator, based on a frequency-tuneable Opto-Electronic Oscillator (OEO) and a Recirculating Phase Modulation Loop (RPML), with high spectral purity and high chirp rate in a small footprint. The OEO heart is a one-dimensional photonic crystal ring resonator with an ultra-high Q factor value and an optical delay < 10 μs. A low-frequency optical signal, with a high chirp rate and TBWP values of the order of 102-103, is generated in the RPML section.

Luminescent silicon nanoparticles have been widely recognized as an alternative for metal-based quantum dots (QDs) for optoelectronics partly because of the high abundance and biocompatibility of silicon. To date, the broad photoluminescence line width (often >100 nm) of silicon QDs has been a hurdle to achieving competitive spectral purity and incorporating them into light-emitting devices. Herein we report fabrication and testing of straightforward configuration of Fabry-Perot resonators that incorporates a thin layer of SiQD-polymer hybrid/blend between two reflective silver mirrors; remarkably these devices exhibit up-to-14-fold narrowing of SiQD emission and achieve a spectral bandwidth as narrow as ca. 9 nm. Our polymer-based, SiQD-containing Fabry-Perot resonators also provide convenient spectral tunability, can be prepared using a variety of polymer hosts and substrates, and enable rigid as well as flexible devices.

A radio frequency generation method in MRI based on monolithic field programmable gate array (FPGA) and direct digital synthesis (DDS) is designed. The RF generator can adjust soft pulse parameters flexibly and quickly, and the specified parameters of the RF pulse can be generated accurately. The DDS is generated inside the FPGA which is used as the core device of the RF pulse generation circuit. The external digital signal processor (DSP) realizes the control of the corresponding parameters in the RF pulse signal and high-speed switching of phase, frequency, and amplitude. The spurious influence of the phase look-up table under different conditions is analyzed through experiments. The suppression effect of the phase dither on the DDS spurious signal is evaluated after adding phase dither to the FPGA program. In view of the problem of large spurious signal amplitude when the look-up table is small, we propose a method of injecting phase dither to improve spectral purity. The experiment proves the effectiveness of the proposed method.

The generation and detection of nonclassical light of about 2 μm has good potential in an emerging field of high-sensitivity metrology, especially gravitational wave detection, as well as free-space quantum communication. A pair of photons is generated through a spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) process in a nonlinear optic crystal, which can be properly entangled in a spatial region where two beams with each polarization overlap or in a Sagnac-loop interferometer configuration. We investigated theoretically and numerically Type II SPDC in a potassium niobate (KNbO3, KN) crystal, which is useful as a material platform for generating photon pairs of high spectral purity in the 2-μm range. The technique is based on the frequency degenerate SPDC under Type II extended phase matching (EPM). We described the EPM characteristics of KN and showed that it is practically feasible for a 1064-nm pumped SPDC under moderate temperature conditions. The effective nonlinear optic coefficient of KN is at least four-times larger than those of other crystals using the Type II EPM approach, which implies a significant improvement in SPDC efficiency. The joint spectral analysis showed that a pair of photons can be generated with a high purity of 0.995 through proper pump filtering.

Recent advances of high-quality lithium niobate (LN) on insulator technology have revitalized the progress of novel chip-integrated LN-based photonic devices and accelerated application research. One of the promising technologies of interest is the generation of entangled photon pairs based on spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) in LNs. In this paper, we investigated, theoretically and numerically, Type II SPDC in two kinds of LNs—undoped and 5-mol% MgO doped LNs. In each case, both non-poled and periodically poled crystals were considered. The technique is based on the SPDC under Type II extended phase matching, where the phase matching and the group velocity matching are simultaneously achieved between interacting photons. The proposed approach has not yet been reported for LNs. We discussed all factors required to generate photon pairs in LNs, in terms of the beam propagation direction, the spectral position of photons, and the corresponding effective nonlinearities and walk-offs. We showed that the spectral positions of the generated photon pairs fall into the mid-infrared region with high potential for free-space quantum communication, spectroscopy, and high-sensitivity metrology. The joint spectral analyses showed that photon pairs can be generated with high purities of 0.995–0.999 with proper pump filtering.

A broadband photonic microwave signal processor based on integrated dual-polarization dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator (DP-DPMZM) is proposed. The processor has a tunable local oscillator (LO) signal, which is generated by the optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) loop in one of the sub-DPMZM with high spectral purity and low phase noise, and its center frequency can be tuned by electronic band-pass filter (EBPF). Using the bias voltage of DP-DPMZM and fiber Bragg grating, the carrier-suppressed single-sideband (CS-SSB) modulation of LO and RF signals can be realized, and the up or down conversion of frequency converter can be realized by adjusting the single bias voltage of DP-DPMZM. Moreover, the power fading caused by dispersion is well compensated with the SSB modulation. The experimental results show that the tunable LO signal of 6-20 GHz is successfully generated, the side mode rejection ratio is as high as 48.4 dB, and the 10 kHz phase noise is 107.6 dBc/Hz at 8 GHz. The spurious rejection ratio of up-down conversion signal is 31.4 dB and 33.6 dB, respectively.

After we replaced the argon mini-arc with a laser-driven light source in the Ultraviolet Spectral Comparator Facility at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), we realized that the optical power should be sufficient to use the comparator system for absolute-cryogenic radiometry. Calibrating working standard detectors directly against an absolute-cryogenic radiometer in the system used for calibrations would eliminate all uncertainties resulting from the use of transfer standards, which were calibrated in a separate system using a different light source and optics. The transfer standards are the middlemen we refer to in the title. Any uncertainty caused by differences in bandpass, out-off-band radiation, spectral purity, collimation, or data interpolation would be removed. In the end, we successfully set up a twin system resembling the Ultraviolet Spectral Comparator Facility and used this system to perform a primary calibration of several photodiodes, based on an absolute-cryogenic radiometer. Using this system, we were able to reduce relative standard uncertainties at wavelengths below 220 nm from above 1 % ( k = 1 ) to below 0.5%. We refer to this system as the Ultraviolet Scale Realization Facility or UV-SRF.

We establish the concept of cross-spectral purity for nonstationary electromagnetic fields having any degree of coherence or polarization. The conditions of cross-spectral purity in all Stokes parameters are derived for both space–time and space–frequency domains, which demonstrate that the normalized two-point coherence properties of such fields can be expressed as products of a spatial and a time (or frequency) dependent function. We further determine the condition of strict cross-spectral purity for nonstationary fields, which establishes the equivalence of normalized two-point Stokes parameters governing the spatial factors of the space–frequency and space–time domains. This study may provide interesting aspects of statistical properties of beams obtained from practically available sources such as pulsed lasers, modulated and fluctuating light sources, etc.

Mid-infrared semiconductor lasers have emerged as indispensable compact coherent sources for military and commercial applications. While much of the historical emphasis has been on maximizing the output power and/or spectral purity, a recent new focus has been on engineering these lasers to operate as optical frequency combs (OFCs) for broadband real-time spectroscopy. In particular, the combination of low-drive-power and broad gain bandwidth has made interband cascade laser (ICL) OFCs an attractive complement to quantum cascade laser OFCs operating at longer wavelengths. Moreover, ICL combs can potentially be incorporated into fully-integrated dual-comb spectrometers that employ fast, room-temperature IC photodetectors processed on the same chip. However, the high refractive index of the ICL’s GaSb substrate poses some challenges to the optical waveguiding. Because the modal index is considerably lower than that of the substrate, the optical field can penetrate the bottom cladding layer and leak into the GaSb, inducing wavelength-dependent interference that modifies the gain and group velocity dispersion (GVD) profiles. Even when the effect on lasing threshold is small, the comb properties can be adversely affected. Using the sub-threshold Fourier transform technique, we studied ICL combs with various ridge widths, substrate thicknesses, and center wavelengths. This allowed us to evaluate the effects of modal leakage on the GVD. We find that the resonant nature of the substrate modes induces oscillations, which affect both the spectral bandwidth and the phase-locking properties above threshold. Strategies to mitigate the GVD’s undesired and unpredictable spectral variation will be presented.

Recent progress in developing tunable mid-IR (2.6 um range) integrated hybrid lasers, are demonstrated. the hybrid laser includes gain chips based on AlGaInAsSb/GaSb quantum wells and tunable reflectors based on micron-scale silicon on insulator integrated photonics platform. The devices exhibit milliwatt-level average power, 10 mW of peak powers and tuning ranges up to 60 nm. Factors limiting tuning range, spectral purity and maximum power are discussed. The demonstrated platform enables realization of tunable lasers for a wide range of applications requiring high performance light sources with emission wavelengths from 1.8 µm to 3 µm and beyond.

Infrared spectroscopy is a powerful tool for identification and quantification of functional molecular groups. Molecular gas lasers have long been used for such purposes due to their early development and mature manufacturing technology. Over the past few decades, Quantum Cascade Lasers (QCLs) have popularized due to their continuously tunable wavelength, climbing peak power, and steadily improving manufacturing economics. However, for many applications in the longwave infrared (LWIR) spectral region, carbon dioxide (CO2) lasers retain a clear advantage over QCLs by providing higher power, greater spectral purity and extended coherence length. This combination allows for detection of volatile organic compounds indicative of many diseases such as early-stage lung cancer, an advanced prognosis of which can increase the 5-year survival rate by 37.5%. In addition to medical applications, CO2 lasers also retain their niche in environmental sensing by providing a robust photoacoustic airborne measurement platform for air quality and climate research. Furthermore, recent advances in thermally balanced gas laser architectures have enabled reliable mobile leak monitoring of the insulation gas Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6) used in medium to ultra-high-voltage electricity transmission lines. With the installed base of SF6 expected to grow 75% by 2030 due to the increase of green energy infrastructure via solar panels and wind turbines – both of which rely on electrical connections, switches, and circuit breakers – this task has gained new urgency due to an upper leak estimate of 15% over the full life cycle of the insulation gas.

Narrow linewidth laser diodes (LDs) emitting in the near-UV (NUV) are gaining attention for applications ranging from spectroscopy to atom cooling and interferometry or other applications requiring high spectral purity. InGaN edge-emitting LDs can exhibit a power of hundreds of mW in an unstable multimode regime detrimental to aforementioned uses. In this paper we report on a compact and robust design based on a low-cost blue LD, a beam shaping optical system and a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) acting as a wavelength selective reflector. One longitudinal mode of the non-antireflection coated laser diode is selected by a close to 30 pm bandwidth FBG allowing a few mW output power around 400 nm and a sidemode- suppression-ratio approaching 50 dB exceeding our last published results. Our previous studies showed that a single-frequency regime with a sub-MHz integrated linewidth and an estimated intrinsic linewidth of 16 kHz was possible by a carefully engineered external cavity. We will study the influence of the cavity length with different fiber types (SM or PM). Assessment will focus on the linewidth and a detailed intensity and frequency noise analysis of the emission. We will also investigate for the first-time the stability of several types of UV-FBG submitted to tens of mW of 400 nm light guided into the fiber core. This work demonstrates state-of-the-art performances by connecting low-cost components and opens the way to the fabrication of highly coherent laser sources that could meet the markets for the NUV applications.

Recently, imec has installed and commissioned an industrial, ultrafast EUV materials characterization and lithography lab, imec’s AttoLab, with a primary aim to explore limits of photoresist performance and their associated ultrafast chemistries. Here, we demonstrate, for the first time, the use of a table-top, high-harmonic EUV system (KM Labs, XUUS4) to perform interference lithography of sub-22-nm pitch patterns in an Inpria MOx resist via a Lloyd’s mirror interference lithography (IL) tool. Analysis of SEM images enables us to identify potential sources of image blur, which we attribute to out-of-sync vibrations, flare, spectral purity, and laser stability. Nevertheless, these results confirm the ability of table-top, high-harmonic EUV sources to print lithographic patterns below a 22-nm pitch. In future work, we plan to investigate sub-20-nm patterning in different resist formulations, as well as expand the lithographic capabilities in AttoLab to perform IL on full 300-mm wafers.

Recently, digital transmitters (DTXs) that feature arrays of controlled digital PA (DPA) cells have become increasingly popular since they directly benefit from nanoscale CMOS technology, yielding reduced die area and highly efficient operation [1] –[6]. For wideband applications, I/Q DTXs are considered superior over their polar counterparts due to their linear I/Q operation, which avoids bandwidth expansion. Nevertheless, I/Q DTXs can suffer from the interaction between their I and Q paths, especially at higher power levels, giving rise to an I/Q image and nonlinearity. To tackle this issue, an IQ interleaved upconverter has been introduced [1]. However, its 25%-LO requirement restricts the operational frequency to below 5GHz. The diamond-shaped mapping technique, presented in [2], uses 50% LOs and a different I and Q combining method but suffers from nonlinearity due to a clipping operation. Besides, the large peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) in modern wireless standards requires the DTX to operate in deep power back-off (DPBO), degrading its average efficiency. To target applications requiring large modulation bandwidth, high spectral purity and average efficiency, we present a DTX with a signed IQ interleaved upconversion approach based on 50%-LO clock distribution, which enables close to perfect orthogonal I/Q summation. To enhance its average efficiency, a compact, 4-way Doherty DPA architecture is introduced.

Narrow-bandwidth luminescent materials are already used in optoelectronic devices, superresolution, lasers, imaging, and sensing. The new-generation carbon fluorescence nanomaterials—carbon dots—have attracted considerable attention due to their advantages, such as simple operation, environmental friendliness, and good photoelectric performance. In this work, two narrower-bandwidth (21 and 30 nm) emission graphene quantum dots with long-wavelength fluorescence were successfully prepared by a one-step method, and their photoluminescence (PL) peaks were at 683 and 667 nm, respectively. These red-emitting graphene quantum dots were characterized by excitation wavelength dependence of the fluorescence lifetimes, and they were successfully applied to spectral and spatial superresolved sensing. Here, we proposed to develop an infrared spectroscopic sensing configuration based on two narrow-bandwidth-emission graphene quantum dots. The advantage of the method used is that spectroscopic information was extracted without using a spectrometer, and two narrow-bandwidth-emission graphene quantum dots were simultaneously excited to achieve spatial separation through the unique temporal “signatures” of the two types of graphene quantum dots. The spatial separation localization errors of the graphene quantum dots (GQDs-Sn and GQDs-OH) were 1 pixel (10 nm) and 3 pixels (30 nm), respectively. The method could also be adjusted for nanoscope-related applications in which spatial superresolved sensing was achieved. Graphene nanoparticles useful for high-resolution spectroscopy and imaging have been fabricated by scientists in China and Israel. Quantum dots are nanoparticles of semiconductor that can trap electrons and their positively charged counterparts, ‘holes’. The light emitted when the electron and hole combine is notable for its high spectral purity, i.e., its very narrow range of frequencies, or colors. Zheng Xie from the Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry in Beijing, Zeev Zalevsky from Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, and their colleagues used a simple one-pot method to synthesize graphene quantum dots that emit ultranarrow frequency light in two different shades of red. The team proposed unique configurations for using those nanoparticles for spatial and spectral superresolved sensing specifically for field called nanoscopy, to create images at a resolution beyond that achievable with a microscope. Infrared spectral and spatial imaging configurations were developed based on near-infrared graphene quantum dots with ultranarrow half-width (FWHM = 21 nm). The spectral imaging is obtained without a spectrometer and the spatial imaging exceeds the limits of resolution (superresolved imaging). The superresolved sensing is obtained due to the unique temporal and spectral properties of the quantum dot.

We present a transportable photonic microwave oscillator, porting optical stability to a 10 GHz microwave signal. The system is composed of two main sub-units: a compact 8 height-unit (HU) 194 THz ultra-stable laser with Hz linewidth showing a fractional frequency stability (modified Allan deviation) of 8.5 × 10-15 at 1 s and a 3 HU ultra-low noise optical frequency comb used to phase-coherently divide the optical frequency reference’s spectral purity down to a 10 GHz microwave signal. Characterizing the synthesized microwave by means of a commercial digital cross-correlator, a phase noise power spectral density of -70 dBc/Hz at 1 Hz and -160 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz Fourier frequency is measured, maintaining a white plateau at -165 dBc/Hz up to 10 MHz offset.

This article presents a wideband energy-efficient transmitter (TX) for 5G mm-wave phased-array systems. It features an advanced double-quadrature direct upconverter (DQ-DUC) to improve its in-band linearity and spectral purity. The proposed TX architecture incorporates an efficiency-enhanced balanced power amplifier (EEBPA) that mitigates VSWR fluctuations in phased-array systems while enhancing efficiency at power back-off (PBO). The EEBPA comprises two identical series-Doherty power amplifiers (PAs) combined through a quadrature hybrid coupler forming a balanced PA. The proposed DQ-DUC consists of a pair of I/Q modulators and the proposed EEBPA's quadrature combiner to further suppress the I/Q image. To verify the proposed techniques, a 40-nm CMOS prototype is implemented. It delivers 20 dBm P $_{1 dB}$ with 40%/31% drain efficiency at P $_{1 dB}$ /6-dB PBO. The measured TX output reflection coefficient is better than -18 dB over a 22.5-30-GHz band. Its intrinsic LO feedthrough and image-rejection ratio for a 100-MHz tone spacing over a 24-30-GHz band are better than -45 dBc/50 dB, respectively, without calibration. The average error vector magnitude (EVM) is better than -27.1 dB without digital pre-distortion for an eight-carrier ``100-MHz 64-QAM OFDM'' signal with an 800-MHz aggregated bandwidth while generating an average output power of 8.4 dBm with 10.8% drain efficiency. Its maximum forward-power/EVM deviations are better than 0.3/1.65 dB, respectively, for a ``100-MHz 64-QAM'' signal under a voltage standing wave ratio of 3.

In this paper, an all-fiberized and narrow-linewidth 5 kW power-level fiber amplifier is presented. The laser is achieved based on the master oscillator power amplification configuration, in which the phase-modulated single-frequency laser is applied as the seed laser and a bidirectional pumping configuration is applied in the power amplifier. The stimulated Brillouin scattering, stimulated Raman scattering, and transverse mode instability effects are all effectively suppressed in the experiment. Consequently, the output power is scaled up to 4.92 kW with a slope efficiency of as high as approximately 80%. The 3-dB spectral width is about 0.59 nm, and the beam quality is measured to be M2∼1.22 at maximum output power. Furthermore, we have also conducted a detailed spectral analysis on the spectral width of the signal laser, which reveals that the spectral wing broadening phenomenon could lead to the obvious decrease of the spectral purity at certain output power. Overall, this work could provide a reference for obtaining and optimizing high-power narrow-linewidth fiber lasers.

Broadly tunable THz radiation is generated at room temperature after injecting the tunable optical parametric oscillation emitted from a microresonator into a bias-free photomixer. The radiated THz wave features Hz-level linewidth and frequency stability.

We improve spectral purity of a repetition frequency of a 300 GHz soliton microcomb by 44 times down to frequency stability as low as 1.5×10 − 9 in empirically-driven experimental conditions that we describe in this work.

We present a wideband, 12-bit four-way Doherty Cartesian digital transmitter (DTX) featuring an innovative 50%-LO signed $I/Q$ interleaved up-conversion technique that enables close to perfect orthogonal $I/Q$ summation. The DTX incorporates a compact four-way lumped-element Doherty power combining network to enhance its average efficiency at deep power back-off (DPBO). It comprises a signed second-order hold (SOH) interpolation filter to suppress the sampling spectral replicas significantly. The proposed DTX is realized in a 40-nm bulk CMOS and delivers a peak output power of 27.54 dBm with drain and system efficiencies of 46.35% and 30.77%, respectively, at 5.3 GHz. At 12 dB DPBO, the realized DTX demonstrates a drain efficiency (DE) of 41.74%–39.27% in a 5.2–5.5 GHz band, respectively. Its intrinsic $I/Q$ image, LO leakage, and C-IMD3/ $H_{{\mathrm {3BB}}}$ for a 200 MHz tone spacing over a 4.8–6.2 GHz band are −64, −65, and −69 dBc, respectively, without calibration. Applying a simple memoryless $2\,\,\times \,\,1$ -D digital pre-distortion, its error vector magnitude and adjacent channel leakage ratio are lower than −31 dB and −39 dBc, respectively, for a six-carrier “40 MHz 256-QAM OFDM” signal with 18 dBm average output power and a 41% average DE. The signed SOH functionality is verified employing a four-carrier “80 MHz 512-QAM OFDM” signal with spectral purity of better than −35 dBc, while its baseband sampling frequency is 675 MHz.

Arising from modulation instability, Turing rolls in optical Kerr microresonators have been used in the generation of optical frequency combs and the synthesis of microwave and terahertz frequencies. In this work, by applying electro-optic modulation on terahertz-frequency Turing rolls, we implement electro-optic frequency division with a microcomb to synthesize variable low-noise microwave signals. We also actively stabilize the terahertz oscillations to a microwave reference via intracavity power modulation, obtaining fractional frequency instabilities that are better than those of the free-running situation by up to six orders of magnitude. This study not only highlights the extraordinary spectral purity of Turing-roll oscillations but also opens the way for bidirectional terahertz-to-microwave links with hybrid optical-frequency-comb techniques.

External-cavity diode lasers are ubiquitous in atomic physics and a wide variety of other scientific disciplines, due to their excellent affordability, coherence length and versatility. However, for higher power applications, the combination of seed lasers, injection-locking and amplifiers can rapidly become expensive and complex. Here we present a useful, high-power, single-diode laser design with specifications: $>210\,$mW, $100\,$ms-linewidth ($427 \pm 7$) kHz, $>99\%$ mode purity, $10\,$GHz mode-hop-free tuning range and $12\,$nm coarse tuning. Simple methods are outlined to determine the spectral purity and linewidth with minimal additional infrastructure. The laser has sufficient power to collect $10^{10}$ $^{87}$Rb atoms in a single-chamber vapour-loaded magneto-optical trap. With appropriate diodes and feedback, the system could be easily adapted to other atomic species and laser formats., 4 pages, 3 figures