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Monolithic piezoelectric control of soliton microcombs

Author

Listed:
  • Junqiu Liu

    (Laboratory of Photonics and Quantum Measurements, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL))

  • Hao Tian

    (OxideMEMS Lab, Purdue University)

  • Erwan Lucas

    (Laboratory of Photonics and Quantum Measurements, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL)
    Time and Frequency Division, NIST)

  • Arslan S. Raja

    (Laboratory of Photonics and Quantum Measurements, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL))

  • Grigory Lihachev

    (Laboratory of Photonics and Quantum Measurements, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL))

  • Rui Ning Wang

    (Laboratory of Photonics and Quantum Measurements, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL))

  • Jijun He

    (Laboratory of Photonics and Quantum Measurements, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL))

  • Tianyi Liu

    (Laboratory of Photonics and Quantum Measurements, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL))

  • Miles H. Anderson

    (Laboratory of Photonics and Quantum Measurements, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL))

  • Wenle Weng

    (Laboratory of Photonics and Quantum Measurements, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL))

  • Sunil A. Bhave

    (OxideMEMS Lab, Purdue University)

  • Tobias J. Kippenberg

    (Laboratory of Photonics and Quantum Measurements, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL))

Abstract

High-speed actuation of laser frequency1 is critical in applications using lasers and frequency combs2,3, and is a prerequisite for phase locking, frequency stabilization and stability transfer among optical carriers. For example, high-bandwidth feedback control of frequency combs is used in optical-frequency synthesis4, frequency division5 and optical clocks6. Soliton microcombs7,8 have emerged as chip-scale frequency comb sources, and have been used in system-level demonstrations9,10. Yet integrated microcombs using thermal heaters have limited actuation bandwidths11,12 of up to 10 kilohertz. Consequently, megahertz-bandwidth actuation and locking of microcombs have only been achieved with off-chip bulk component modulators. Here we demonstrate high-speed soliton microcomb actuation using integrated piezoelectric components13. By monolithically integrating AlN actuators14 on ultralow-loss Si3N4 photonic circuits15, we demonstrate voltage-controlled soliton initiation, tuning and stabilization with megahertz bandwidth. The AlN actuators use 300 nanowatts of power and feature bidirectional tuning, high linearity and low hysteresis. They exhibit a flat actuation response up to 1 megahertz—substantially exceeding bulk piezo tuning bandwidth—that is extendable to higher frequencies by overcoming coupling to acoustic contour modes of the chip. Via synchronous tuning of the laser and the microresonator, we exploit this ability to frequency-shift the optical comb spectrum (that is, to change the comb’s carrier-envelope offset frequency) and make excursions beyond the soliton existence range. This enables a massively parallel frequency-modulated engine16,17 for lidar (light detection and ranging), with increased frequency excursion, lower power and elimination of channel distortions resulting from the soliton Raman self-frequency shift. Moreover, by modulating at a rate matching the frequency of high-overtone bulk acoustic resonances18, resonant build-up of bulk acoustic energy allows a 14-fold reduction of the required driving voltage, making it compatible with CMOS (complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor) electronics. Our approach endows soliton microcombs with integrated, ultralow-power and fast actuation, expanding the repertoire of technological applications of microcombs.

Suggested Citation

  • Junqiu Liu & Hao Tian & Erwan Lucas & Arslan S. Raja & Grigory Lihachev & Rui Ning Wang & Jijun He & Tianyi Liu & Miles H. Anderson & Wenle Weng & Sunil A. Bhave & Tobias J. Kippenberg, 2020. "Monolithic piezoelectric control of soliton microcombs," Nature, Nature, vol. 583(7816), pages 385-390, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:583:y:2020:i:7816:d:10.1038_s41586-020-2465-8
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2465-8
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Grigory Lihachev & Johann Riemensberger & Wenle Weng & Junqiu Liu & Hao Tian & Anat Siddharth & Viacheslav Snigirev & Vladimir Shadymov & Andrey Voloshin & Rui Ning Wang & Jijun He & Sunil A. Bhave & , 2022. "Low-noise frequency-agile photonic integrated lasers for coherent ranging," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    2. Yang He & Raymond Lopez-Rios & Usman A. Javid & Jingwei Ling & Mingxiao Li & Shixin Xue & Kerry Vahala & Qiang Lin, 2023. "High-speed tunable microwave-rate soliton microcomb," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-7, December.
    3. Anton Lukashchuk & Johann Riemensberger & Maxim Karpov & Junqiu Liu & Tobias J. Kippenberg, 2022. "Dual chirped microcomb based parallel ranging at megapixel-line rates," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
    4. Rui Niu & Ming Li & Shuai Wan & Yu Robert Sun & Shui-Ming Hu & Chang-Ling Zou & Guang-Can Guo & Chun-Hua Dong, 2023. "kHz-precision wavemeter based on reconfigurable microsoliton," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-6, December.
    5. Thibault Wildi & Alexander E. Ulanov & Thibault Voumard & Bastian Ruhnke & Tobias Herr, 2024. "Phase-stabilised self-injection-locked microcomb," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-7, December.
    6. Maodong Gao & Qi-Fan Yang & Qing-Xin Ji & Heming Wang & Lue Wu & Boqiang Shen & Junqiu Liu & Guanhao Huang & Lin Chang & Weiqiang Xie & Su-Peng Yu & Scott B. Papp & John E. Bowers & Tobias J. Kippenbe, 2022. "Probing material absorption and optical nonlinearity of integrated photonic materials," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
    7. Arslan Sajid Raja & Sophie Lange & Maxim Karpov & Kai Shi & Xin Fu & Raphael Behrendt & Daniel Cletheroe & Anton Lukashchuk & Istvan Haller & Fotini Karinou & Benn Thomsen & Krzysztof Jozwik & Junqiu , 2021. "Ultrafast optical circuit switching for data centers using integrated soliton microcombs," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-7, December.
    8. Terence Blésin & Wil Kao & Anat Siddharth & Rui N. Wang & Alaina Attanasio & Hao Tian & Sunil A. Bhave & Tobias J. Kippenberg, 2024. "Bidirectional microwave-optical transduction based on integration of high-overtone bulk acoustic resonators and photonic circuits," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    9. Jingwei Ling & Zhengdong Gao & Shixin Xue & Qili Hu & Mingxiao Li & Kaibo Zhang & Usman A. Javid & Raymond Lopez-Rios & Jeremy Staffa & Qiang Lin, 2024. "Electrically empowered microcomb laser," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.

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