We report on the dependence of the frequency-to-intensity noise conversion in the locking of an ultrafast laser against a high-finesse optical resonator from the Carrier Envelope Offset (CEO) frequency. By a proper combination of the cavity finesse and laser CEO frequency it is possible to optimize the signal-to-noise ratio of the laser intensity trapped into the optical resonator. The theoretical description of the problem together with the numerical simulations and experimental results are presented with the aim of a strong suppression of the intensity fluctuations of the trapped laser field.
We explore experimentally a new regime of operation for mode locking in a Ti:Sapphire laser with enhanced Kerr nonlinearity, where the threshold for pulsed operation is lowered below the threshold for continuous-wave (CW) operation. Even though a CW solution cannot exist in this regime, pulsed oscillation can be realized directly from zero CW oscillation. In this regime, the point of maximum strength of the Kerr nonlinear process provides a "sweet spot" for mode locking, which can be optimized to considerably lower the pump power threshold. The properties of the "sweet spot" are explained with…
We demonstrate an easily tunable locking scheme for stabilizing frequency-sum of two lasers on a two-photon ladder transition based on polarization rotation in warm rubidium vapors induced by magnetic field and circularly polarized drive field. Unprecedented tunability of the two-photon offset frequency is due to strong splitting and shifting of magnetic states in external field. In our experimental setup we achieve two-photon detuning of up to 700 MHz.
We have demonstrated the laser frequency offset locking via the Rb tripod-type double dark resonances electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) system. The influence of coupling fields power and detuning on the tripod-type EIT profile is detailed studied. In a wide coupling fields detuning range, the narrower EIT dip has an ultranarrow linewidth of 590 KHz, which is about one order narrower than the natural linewidth of Rb. Without the additional frequency stabilization of the coupling lasers, we achieve the relative frequency fluctuation of 60 KHz in a long time of ~2000s, which is narro…
Lasers with well controlled relative frequencies are indispensable for many applications in science and technology. We present a frequency offset locking method for lasers based on beat frequency discrimination utilizing hybrid electronic LC filters. The method is specifically designed for decoupling the tightness of the lock from the broadness of its capture range. The presented demonstration locks two free running diode lasers at 780 nm with a 5.5 GHz offset. It displays an offset frequency instability below 55 Hz for timescales in excess of 1000 s and a minimum of 12 Hz at 10 s averaging, o…
Two cw single-mode violet (397nm) diode lasers are locked to a single external-cavity master diode laser by optical injection locking. A double-pass 1.6GHz acousto-optic modulator is used to provide a 3.2GHz offset frequency between the two slave lasers. We achieve up to 20mW usable output in each slave beam, with as little as 25 μW of injection power at room temperature. An optical heterodyne measurement of the beat note between the two slave beams gives a linewidth of <=10Hz at 3.2GHz. We also estimate the free-running linewidth of the master laser to be approximately 3MHz, by optical hetero…
We demonstrate passive harmonic mode-locking of a quantum well laser diode designed to support a discrete comb of Fabry-Perot modes. Spectral filtering of the mode spectrum was achieved using a non-periodic patterning of the cavity effective index. By selecting six modes spaced at twice the fundamental mode spacing, near-transform limited pulsed output with 2 ps pulse duration was obtained at a repetition rate of 100 GHz.
The two-frequency problem of synchronization of the pulse train of a passively mode locked soliton laser to an externally injected pulse train is solved in the weak injection regime. The source and target frequency combs are distinguished by the spacing and offset frequency mismatches. Locking diagrams map the domain in the mismatch parameter space where stable locking of the combs is possible. We analyze the dependence of the locking behavior on the relative frequency and chirp of the source and target pulses, and the conditions where the relative offset frequency has to be actively stabilize…
We study the injection locking bistability of a specially engineered two-color semiconductor Fabry-Perot laser. Oscillation in the uninjected primary mode leads to a bistability of single mode and two-color equilibria. With pulsed modulation of the injected power we demonstrate an all-optical memory element based on this bistability, where the uninjected primary mode is switched with 35 dB intensity contrast. Using experimental and theoretical analysis, we describe the associated bifurcation structure, which is not found in single mode systems with optical injection.
Ultrahigh repetition rate lasers will become vital light sources for many future technologies; however, their realization is challenging because the cavity size must be minimized. Whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) microresonators are attractive for this purpose since they allow the strong light-matter interaction usually needed to enable mode-locking. However, the optimum parameter ranges are entirely unknown since no experiments have yet been conducted. Here, we numerically investigate pulsed operation in a toroidal WGM microresonator with gain and saturable absorption (SA) to study the experimen…
Coherent mode-locking (CML) uses self-induced transparency (SIT) soliton formation to achieve, in contrast to conventional schemes based on absorption saturation, the pulse durations below the limit allowed by the gain line width. Despite of the great promise it is difficult to realize it experimentally because a complicated setup is required. In all previous theoretical considerations CML is believed to be non-self-starting. In this article we show that if the cavity length is selected properly, a very stable (CML) regime can be realized in an elementary two-section ring-cavity geometry, and …
The influence of optical feedback on semiconductor lasers has been a widely studied field of research due to fundamental interests as well as the optimization of optical data transmission and computing. Recent publications have shown that it is possible to induce a periodic pulsed like output in quantum-dot and quantum-well laser diodes utilizing the locking of the external cavity modes and the relaxation oscillation frequency. We present an in-depth analysis of this effect. We choose submonolayer quantum dots as a gain system, as these provide a relatively strong amplitude-phase coupling, whi…
Dual-comb sources with equally spaced and low phase noise frequency lines are of great importance for high resolution spectroscopy and metrology. In the terahertz frequency range, electrically pumped semiconductor quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) are suitable candidates for frequency comb and dual-comb operation. For a single laser frequency comb, the repetition rate can be locked using a microwave injection locking and the carrier frequency can be locked to a highly stable source. However, for the locking of two laser combs, four frequencies (two repetition rates and two carrier offset frequenci…
We report on phase-locking of two continuous wave infrared laser sources separated by 100 THz emitting around 1029 nm and 1544 nm respectively. Our approach uses three independent harmonic generation processes of the IR laser frequencies in periodically poled MgO: LiNbO3 crystals to generate second and third harmonic of that two IR sources. The beat note between the two independent green radiations generated around 515 nm is used to phase-lock one IR laser to the other, with tunable radio frequency offset. In this way, the whole setup operates as a mini frequency comb (MFC) emitting four inten…
Ultrashort pulsed mode-locked lasers enable research at new time-scales and revolutionary technologies from bioimaging to materials processing. In general, the performance of these lasers is determined by the degree to which the pulses of a particular resonator can be scaled in energy and pulse duration before destabilizing. To date, milestones have come from the application of more tolerant pulse solutions, drawing on nonlinear concepts like soliton formation and self-similarity. Despite these advances, lasers have not reached the predicted performance limits anticipated by these new solution…
Optical frequency combs based on semiconductor lasers are a promising technology for monolithic integration of dual-comb spectrometers. However, the stabilization of the offset frequency fceo remains a challenging feat due the lack of octave-spanning spectra. In a dual-comb configuration, the uncorrelated jitter of the offset frequencies leads to a non-periodic signal resulting in broadened beatnotes with a limited signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Hence, expensive data acquisition schemes and complex signal processing are currently required. Here, we show that the offset frequencies of two frequen…
Mode locking in lasers is a collective effect, where due to a weak coupling a large number of frequency modes lock their phases to oscillate in unison, forming an ultrashort pulse in time. We demonstrate an analogous collective effect in coupled parametric oscillators, which we term "pairwise mode-locking", where many pairs of modes with twin frequencies (symmetric around the center carrier) oscillate simultaneously with a locked phase-sum, while the phases of individual modes remain undefined. Thus, despite being broadband and multimode, the emission is not pulsed and lacks first-order cohere…
The ability to generate phase-stabilised trains of ultrafast laser pulses by mode-locking underpins photonics research in fields such as precision metrology and spectroscopy. However, the complexity of conventional mode-locked laser systems, combined with the need for a mechanism to induce active or passive phase locking between resonator modes, has hindered their realisation at the nanoscale. Here, we demonstrate that GaAs-AlGaAs nanowire lasers are capable of emitting pairs of phase-locked picosecond laser pulses when subject to non-resonant pulsed optical excitation with a repetition freque…
We have demonstrated a frequency-stabilized tunable 318.6 nm ultraviolet (UV) laser system for the single-photon 6S1/2 - nP (n = 70 ~ 100) Rydberg excitation of cesium atoms. The 637.2 nm laser produced by single-pass sum frequency generation from two infrared fiber lasers is offset locked to a high-finesse ultra-low expansion (ULE) optical cavity placed in ultra-high vacuum using the electronic sideband locking technique. The generated 318.6 nm UV laser via cavity-enhanced second-harmonic generation can be continuously tuned over 4 GHz by indirectly changing modulation frequency on the electr…
We theoretically present a design of self-starting operation of microcombs based on laser-cavity solitons in a system composed of a micro-resonator nested in and coupled to an amplifying laser cavity. We demonstrate that it is possible to engineer the modulational-instability gain of the system's zero state to allow the start-up with a well-defined number of robust solitons. The approach can be implemented by using the system parameters, such as the cavity length mismatch and the gain shape, to control the number and repetition rate of the generated solitons. Because the setting does not requi…
We report on the observation of a novel mode locked optical comb generated at the Raman offset (Raman comb) in an optically pumped crystalline whispering gallery mode resonator. Mode locking is confirmed via measurement of the radio-frequency beat note produced by the optical comb on a fast photodiode. Neither the conventional Kerr comb nor hyper-parametric oscillation is observed when the Raman comb is present.
The multi-dithering method has been well verified in phase locking of polarization coherent combination experiment. However, it is hard to apply to low repetition frequency pulsed lasers, since there exists an overlap frequency domain between pulse laser and the amplitude phase noise and traditional filters cannot effectively separate phase noise. Aiming to solve the problem in this paper, we propose a novel method of pulse noise detection, identification, and filtering based on the autocorrelation characteristics between noise signals. In the proposed algorithm, a self-designed window algorit…
We report on the development of a frequency modulatable 795 nm semiconductor laser based on self-injection locking to a high quality factor whispering gallery mode microresonator. The laser is characterized with residual amplitude modulation below -80 dB and frequency noise better than 300 Hz/Hz^(1/2) at offset frequencies ranging from 100 Hz to 10 MHz. The frequency modulation (FM) speed and span of the laser exceed 1 MHz and 4 GHz, respectively. Locking of the laser to Doppler-free saturated absorption resonance of 87Rb D1 line is demonstrated and frequency stability below 10^(-12) is measur…
We demonstrate ultra-low timing jitter optical pulse trains from free- running, 80 MHz repetition rate, mode-locked Yb-fiber lasers. Timing jitter of various mode-locking conditions at close-to-zero intra-cavity dispersion (-0.004 to +0.002 ps2 range at 1040 nm center wavelength) is characterized using a sub-20-attosecond-resolution balanced optical cross-correlation method. The measured lowest rms timing jitter is 175 attoseconds when integrated from 10 kHz to 40 MHz (Nyquist frequency) offset frequency range, which corresponds to the record-low timing jitter from free-running mode-locked fib…
Ultrafast lasers generating high repetition rate ultrashort pulses through various mode-locking methods can benefit many important applications including communication, materials processing, astronomical observation, etc. For decades, mode-locking based on dissipative four-wave-mixing (DFWM) has been fundamental in producing pulses with repetition rates on the order of gigahertz (GHz), where multiwavelength comb filters and long nonlinear components are elemental. Recently, this method has been improved using filter-driven DFWM, which exploits both the filtering and nonlinear features of silic…
We demonstrate a compact and robust device for simultaneous absolute frequency stabilization of three diode lasers whose carrier frequencies can be chosen freely relative to the reference. A rigid ULE multi-cavity block is employed, and, for each laser, the sideband locking technique is applied. Useful features of the system are a negligible lock error, computer control of frequency offset, wide range of frequency offset, simple construction, and robust operation. One concrete application is as a stabilization unit for the cooling and trapping lasers of a neutral atom lattice clock. The device…
Ultrashort pulsed lasers, operating through the phenomenon of mode-locking, have played a significant role in many facets of our society for 50 years, for example in the way we exchange information, measure and diagnose diseases, process materials and in many other applications. The ability to phase-lock the modes of the high-quality resonators recently exploited to demonstrate optical combs, would allow mode-locked lasers to benefit from their high optical spectral quality in order to realize novel sources such as precision optical clocks for applications to metrology, telecommunications, mic…
Self-mode-locking has become an emerging path to the generation of ultrashort pulses with vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting lasers. In our work, a strong Kerr nonlinearity that is so far assumed to give rise to mode-locked operation is evidenced and a strong nonlinearity enhancement by the microcavity is revealed. We present wavelength-dependent measurements of the nonlinear absorption and nonlinear-refractive-index change in a gain chip using the Z-scan technique. We report negative nonlinear refraction up to 1.5E-11 cm2/W in magnitude in the (InGa)As/Ga(AsP) material system close to …
Ultralow-noise microwave oscillator via optical frequency division with a co-self-injection-locked miniature Fabry-Perot reference
National Innovation Institute of Defense Technology, Academy of Military Sciences PLA China（中国人民解放军军事科学院国防创新研究院）；College of Computer Science and Technology, National University of Defense Technology（国防科技大学计算机学院）；College of Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, National University of Defense Technology（国防科技大学前沿交叉学院）；College of Science, National University of Defense Technology（国防科技大学理学院）；Hunan Research Center of the Basic Discipline for Physical States, National University of Defense Technology（国防科技大学物理状态湖南省基础学科研究中心）
The major development recently undergone by quantum cascade lasers has effectively extended frequency comb emission to longer-wavelength spectral regions, i.e. the mid and far infrared. Unlike classical pulsed frequency combs, their mode-locking mechanism relies on four-wave mixing nonlinear processes, with a temporal intensity profile different from conventional short-pulses trains. Measuring the absolute phase pattern of the modes in these combs enables a thorough characterization of the onset of mode-locking in absence of short-pulses emission, as well as of the coherence properties. Here, …
We demonstrate an optical frequency comb based on an erbium-doped-fiber femtosecond laser with the nonlinear polarization evolution scheme. The repetition rate of the laser is about 209 MHz. By controlling an intra-cavity electro-optic modulator and a piezo-transducer, the repetition rate can be stabilized with high servo bandwidth in a range of 3 kHz, enabling long-term repetition rate phase-locking. The in-loop frequency stability of repetition rate is about 1.6E-13 at 1 second integration time, limited by the measurement system; and it is inversely proportional to integration time in short …
We frequency stabilize the output of a miniature stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) laser to rubidium atoms in a microfabricated cell to realize a laser system with frequency stability at the $10^{-11}$ level over seven decades in averaging time. In addition, our system has the advantages of robustness, low cost and the potential for integration that would lead to still further miniaturization. The SBS laser operating at 1560 nm exhibits a spectral linewidth of 820 Hz, but its frequency drifts over a few MHz on the 1 hour timescale. By locking the second harmonic of the SBS laser to the Rb …
We study the nonlinear QED signature of x-ray vacuum diffraction in the head-on collision of optical high-intensity and x-ray free-electron laser pulses at finite spatio-temporal offsets between the laser foci. The high-intensity laser driven scattering of signal photons outside the forward cone of the x-ray probe constitutes a prospective experimental signature of quantum vacuum nonlinearity. Resorting to a simplified phenomenological ad-hoc model, it was recently argued that the angular distribution of the signal in the far-field is sensitive to the wavefront curvature of the probe beam in t…
We demonstrate 14.3-attosecond timing jitter [integrated from 10 kHz to 94 MHz offset frequency] optical pulse trains from 188-MHz repetition-rate mode-locked Yb-fiber lasers. In order to minimize the timing jitter, we shorten the non-gain fiber length to shorten the pulsewidth and reduce excessive higher-order nonlinearity and nonlinear chirp in the fiber laser. The measured jitter spectrum is limited by the amplified spontaneous emission limited quantum noise in the 100 kHz - 1 MHz offset frequency range, while it was limited by the relative intensity noise-converted jitter in the lower offs…
Frequency microcombs, successors to mode-locked laser and fiber combs, enable miniature rulers of light for applications including precision metrology, molecular fingerprinting, and exoplanet discoveries. To enable the frequency ruling function, microcombs must be stabilized by locking their carrier-envelop offset frequency. So far, the microcomb stabilization remains compounded by the elaborate optics external to the chip, thus evading its scaling benefit. To address this challenge, here we demonstrate a nanophotonic chip solution based on aluminum nitride thin films, which simultaneously off…
Dissipative Kerr Soliton Self-Balancing from Kerr-Induced Synchronization
University of Maryland Baltimore County（马里兰大学巴尔的摩县分校）；Joint Quantum Institute, NIST/University of Maryland（量子联合研究所，NIST/马里兰大学）；Microsystems and Nanotechnology Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology（微系统与纳米技术部，美国国家标准与技术研究院）
Pulse generation often requires a stabilized cavity and its corresponding mode structure for initial phase-locking. Contrastingly, modeless cavity-free random lasers provide new possibilities for high quantum efficiency lasing that could potentially be widely tunable spectrally and temporally. Pulse generation in random lasers, however, has remained elusive since the discovery of modeless gain lasing. Here we report coherent pulse generation with modeless random lasers based on the unique polarization selectivity and broadband saturable absorption of monolayer graphene. Simultaneous temporal c…
We propose a novel laser configuration that can output 3.5-$μ$m nanosecond laser pulses based on a simple and monolithic fiber structure. Cascade-gain-switching, which converts the wavelength of nanosecond pulses from 1.55 $μ$m to 3.5 $μ$m by two successive gain-switching processes. Instead of using expensive pump sources at special wavelengths and bulky active or passive modulation elements for Q-switching or mode-locking, the cascade gain-switching only requires the pumping of an electric-modulated 1.55-$μ$m pulsed laser and two continuous-wave (CW) 975-nm laser diodes. They are all standard…
We demonstrate ultrashort pulse generation from a fluoride fiber laser co-doped with holmium and praseodymium. To date the majority of work focused on short pulse generation from this class of fiber laser has employed loss modulators in the cavity, both real and artificial. In this work we alternatively employ a frequency shifting element: an acousto-optic modulator (AOM) in the cavity. This results in mode-locked output of sub-5 ps pulses with 10 nJ of energy at a center wavelength of 2.86 μm, and a pulse repetition frequency of 30.1 MHz, equating to a peak power of 1.9 kW. Additional experim…
Microresonator-based frequency combs (microcombs or Kerr-combs) can potentially miniaturize the numerous applications of conventional frequency combs. A priority is the realization of broad-band (ideally octave spanning) spectra at detectable repetition rates for comb self referencing. However, access to these rates involves pumping larger mode volumes and hence higher threshold powers. Moreover, threshold power sets both the scale for power per comb tooth and also the optical pump. Along these lines, it is shown that a class of resonators having surface-loss-limited Q factors can operate over…
Controlling the carrier envelope phase (CEP) in mode-locked lasers over practically long timescales is crucial for real-world applications in ultrafast optics and precision metrology. We present a hybrid solution that combines a feed-forward technique to stabilize the phase offset in fast timescales and a feedback technique that addresses slowly varying sources of interference and locking bandwidth limitations associated with gain media with long upper-state lifetimes. We experimentally realize the hybrid stabilization system in an Er:Yb:glass mode-locked laser and demonstrate 75 hours of stab…
Integrated femtosecond pulse and frequency comb sources are critical components for a wide range of applications. The leading approaches for on-chip pulse generation rely on mode locking inside microresonator with either third-order nonlinearity or with semiconductor gain. These approaches, however, are limited in noise performance, wavelength tunability and repetition rates. Alternatively, sub-picosecond pulses can be synthesized without mode-locking, by modulating a continuous-wave (CW) single-frequency laser using a cascade of electro-optic (EO) modulators. This method is particularly attra…
We investigate the impact of pulse interleaving and optical amplification on the spectral purity of microwave signals generated by photodetecting the pulsed output of an Er:fiber-based optical frequency comb. It is shown that the microwave phase noise floor can be extremely sensitive to delay length errors in the interleaver, and the contribution of the quantum noise from optical amplification to the phase noise can be reduced ~10 dB for short pulse detection. We exploit optical amplification, in conjunction with high power handling modified uni-traveling carrier photodetectors, to generate a …
