近日，美国弗吉尼亚大学的Xu Yi及其研究小组与美国加州大学圣塔芭芭拉分校的Daniel J. Blumenthal等人合作并取得一项新进展。经过不懈努力，他们实现用于产生微波和毫米波的集成光学分频。相关研究成果已于2024年3月6日在国际权威学术期刊《自然》上发表。

该研究团队成功研发出小型化光学分频系统，有望实现与互补金属氧化物半导体兼容的集成光子平台的有效对接。该系统运用大模态体积、基于平面波导的光学参考线圈腔提供相位稳定性，并通过波导耦合微谐振器中产生的孤子微梳，将光学频率转化为毫米波频率进行分频。

这一创新不仅实现了集成光子毫米波振荡器创纪录的低相位噪声，更可以与半导体激光器、放大器和光电二极管进行异质集成，为基础和大众市场应用提供了大批量、低成本的制造潜力。

据悉，在小型化、基于芯片的平台上产生超低噪声微波和毫米波可以改变通信、雷达和传感系统。利用光学参考和光频梳的光学分频已经成为一种强大的技术，可以产生比任何其他方法都具有更高光谱纯度的微波。

附：英文原文

Title: Integrated optical frequency division for microwave and mmWave generation

Author: Sun, Shuman, Wang, Beichen, Liu, Kaikai, Harrington, Mark W., Tabatabaei, Fatemehsadat, Liu, Ruxuan, Wang, Jiawei, Hanifi, Samin, Morgan, Jesse S., Jahanbozorgi, Mandana, Yang, Zijiao, Bowers, Steven M., Morton, Paul A., Nelson, Karl D., Beling, Andreas, Blumenthal, Daniel J., Yi, Xu

Issue&Volume: 2024-03-06

Abstract: The generation of ultra-low-noise microwave and mmWave in miniaturized, chip-based platforms can transform communication, radar and sensing systems. Optical frequency division that leverages optical references and optical frequency combs has emerged as a powerful technique to generate microwaves with superior spectral purity than any other approaches. Here we demonstrate a miniaturized optical frequency division system that can potentially transfer the approach to a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor-compatible integrated photonic platform. Phase stability is provided by a large mode volume, planar-waveguide-based optical reference coil cavity and is divided down from optical to mmWave frequency by using soliton microcombs generated in a waveguide-coupled microresonator. Besides achieving record-low phase noise for integrated photonic mmWave oscillators, these devices can be heterogeneously integrated with semiconductor lasers, amplifiers and photodiodes, holding the potential of large-volume, low-cost manufacturing for fundamental and mass-market applications.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07057-0

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07057-0