4.8 Article

A broadband chip-scale optical frequency synthesizer at 2.7 x 10-16 relative uncertainty

Journal

SCIENCE ADVANCES
Volume 2, Issue 4, Pages -

Publisher

AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1501489

Keywords

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Funding

  1. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency [HR0011-15-2-0014]
  2. National Institute of Standards and Technology Precision Measurement Grant [60NANB13D163]
  3. National Science Foundation [PHY-1349725]
  4. Office of Naval Research [N00014-14-1-0041]
  5. Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Award [FA9550-15-1-0081]

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Optical frequency combs-coherent light sources that connect optical frequencies with microwave oscillations-have become the enabling tool for precision spectroscopy, optical clockwork, and attosecond physics over the past decades. Current benchmark systems are self-referenced femtosecond mode-locked lasers, but Kerr nonlinear dynamics in high-Q solid-state microresonators has recently demonstrated promising features as alternative platforms. The advance not only fosters studies of chip-scale frequency metrology but also extends the realm of optical frequency combs. We report the full stabilization of chip-scale optical frequency combs. The microcomb's two degrees of freedom, one of the comb lines and the native 18-GHz comb spacing, are simultaneously phase-locked to known optical and microwave references. Active comb spacing stabilization improves long-term stability by six orders of magnitude, reaching a record instrument-limited residual instability of 3.6 mHz/root tau. Comparing 46 nitride frequency comb lines with a fiber laser frequency comb, we demonstrate the unprecedented microcomb tooth-to-tooth relative frequency uncertainty down to 50 mHz and 2.7 x 10(-16), heralding novel solid-state applications in precision spectroscopy, coherent communications, and astronomical spectrography.

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