arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Franklyn Quinlan.
We present an in-vacuum bonded, 9.7 mL-volume Fabry-Pérot ultrastable optical reference cavity that operates without a vacuum enclosure. A laser stabilized to the cavity demonstrates low, thermal noise-limited phase noise and 5x10^{-14} Allan deviation at 1 second.
In this work we demonstrate an FPGA-based coherent optical frequency domain reflectometry setup for cable monitoring. Using coherent detection for averaging and narrowband filtering, we significantly improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) compared to traditional intensity-only techniques while also enabling continuous monitoring of phase and polarization. In addition, the probe signal has constant power, avoiding the nonlinear distortions and thereby enabling continuous use without interfering with data channels. We perform a field demonstration over a trans-oceanic cable using loopback configurations present in each repeater, demonstrating measurement SNR exceeding 30 dB for all about 80 repeaters with an averaging window of 1 second. We furthermore compare cable monitoring using coherent processing to today's solutions using power-only measurements. Our results show how transitioning to coherent technology for cable monitoring can improve sensitivity and enable new types of monitoring, exploring knowledge gained from transitioning from incoherent to coherent data transmission.
Electrical signals derived from optical sources have achieved record-low levels of phase noise, and have demonstrated the highest frequency stability yet achieved in the microwave domain. Attaining such ultrastable phase and frequency performance requires high-fidelity optical-to-electrical conversion, typically performed via a high-speed photodiode. This paper reviews characteristics of the direct photodetection of optical pulses for the intent of generating high power, low phase noise microwave signals from optical sources. The two most popular types of photodiode detectors used for low noise microwave generation are discussed in terms of electrical pulse characteristics, achievable microwave power, and photodetector nonlinearities. Noise sources inherent to photodetection, such as shot noise, flicker noise, and photocarrier scattering are reviewed, and their impact on microwave phase fidelity is discussed. General guidelines for attaining the lowest noise possible from photodetection that balances power saturation, optical amplification, and amplitude-to-phase conversion, are also presented.
We develop and demonstrate a compact (less than $6$ mL) portable Fabry-Pérot optical reference cavity. A laser locked to the cavity is thermal noise limited at $2\times10^{-14}$ fractional frequency stability. Broadband feedback control with an electro-optic modulator enables near thermal-noise-limited phase noise performance from $1$ Hz to $10$ kHz offset frequencies. The additional low vibration, temperature, and holding force sensitivity of our design makes it well suited for out-of-the-lab applications such as optically derived low noise microwave generation, compact and mobile optical atomic clocks, and environmental sensing through deployed fiber networks.
The Fabry-Pérot resonator is one of the most widely used optical devices, enabling scientific and technological breakthroughs in diverse fields including cavity QED, optical clocks, precision length metrology and spectroscopy. Though resonator designs vary widely, all high-end applications benefit from mirrors with the lowest loss and highest finesse possible. Fabrication of the highest finesse mirrors relies on centuries-old mechanical polishing techniques, which offer losses at the part-per-million (ppm) level. However, no existing fabrication techniques are able to produce high finesse resonators with the large range of mirror geometries needed for scalable quantum devices and next-generation compact atomic clocks. In this paper, we introduce a new and scalable approach to fabricate mirrors with ultrahigh finesse ($\geq 10^{6}$) and user-defined radius of curvature spanning four orders of magnitude ($10^{-4}-10^{0}$ m). We employ photoresist reflow and reactive ion etching to shape and transfer mirror templates onto a substrate while maintaining sub-Angstrom roughness. This substrate is coated with a dielectric stack and used to create arrays of compact Fabry-Pérot resonators with finesse values as high as 1.3 million and measured excess loss $<$ 1 ppm. Optical ringdown measurements of 43 devices across 5 substrates reveal that the fabricated cavity mirrors -- with both small and large radii of curvature -- produce an average coating-limited finesse of 1.05 million. This versatile new approach opens the door to scalable fabrication of high-finesse miniaturized Fabry-Pérot cavities needed for emerging quantum optics and frequency metrology technologies.
Lasers with hertz-level linewidths on timescales up to seconds are critical for precision metrology, timekeeping, and manipulation of quantum systems. Such frequency stability typically relies on bulk-optic lasers and reference cavities, where increased size is leveraged to improve noise performance, but with the trade-off of cost, hand assembly, and limited application environments. On the other hand, planar waveguide lasers and cavities exploit the benefits of CMOS scalability but are fundamentally limited from achieving hertz-level linewidths at longer times by stochastic noise and thermal sensitivity inherent to the waveguide medium. These physical limits have inhibited the development of compact laser systems with frequency noise required for portable optical clocks that have performance well beyond conventional microwave counterparts. In this work, we break this paradigm to demonstrate a compact, high-coherence laser system at 1548 nm with a 1 s integrated linewidth of 1.1 Hz and fractional frequency instability less than 10$^{-14}$ from 1 ms to 1 s. The frequency noise at 1 Hz offset is suppressed by 11 orders of magnitude from that of the free-running diode laser down to the cavity thermal noise limit near 1 Hz$^2$/Hz, decreasing to 10$^{-3}$ Hz$^2$/Hz at 4 kHz offset. This low noise performance leverages wafer-scale integrated lasers together with an 8 mL vacuum-gap cavity that employs micro-fabricated mirrors with sub-angstrom roughness to yield an optical $Q$ of 11.8 billion. Significantly, all the critical components are lithographically defined on planar substrates and hold the potential for parallel high-volume manufacturing. Consequently, this work provides an important advance towards compact lasers with hertz-level linewidths for applications such as portable optical clocks, low-noise RF photonic oscillators, and related communication and navigation systems.
Lasers stabilized to vacuum-gap Fabry-Pérot optical reference cavities display extraordinarily low noise and high stability, with linewidths much less than 1 Hz. These lasers can expand into new applications and ubiquitous use with the development of compact, portable cavities that are manufacturable at scale. Here we demonstrate an 8 mL volume Fabry-Pérot cavity constructed with mirrors that are fabricated lithographically with finesse near 1 million. A laser locked to the cavity exhibits phase noise limited by the cavity thermal noise for offset frequencies ranging from 1 Hz to $\approx$ 1 kHz, with a fractional frequency stability of 7$\times$10$^{-15}$ at 1 second. Furthermore, the use of microfabricated mirrors allows us to expand the design space of centimeter-scale cavities, and we explore the noise implications of pushing towards cavity volumes of 2 mL or less.
Precision laser spectroscopy is key to many developments in atomic and molecular physics and the advancement of related technologies such as atomic clocks and sensors. However, in important spectroscopic scenarios, such as astronomy and remote sensing, the light is of thermal origin and interferometric or diffractive spectrometers typically replace laser spectroscopy. In this work, we employ laser-based heterodyne radiometry to measure incoherent light sources in the near-infrared and introduce techniques for absolute frequency calibration with a laser frequency comb. Measuring the solar continuum, we obtain a signal-to-noise ratio that matches the fundamental quantum-limited prediction given by the thermal photon distribution and our system's efficiency, bandwidth, and averaging time. With resolving power R~1,000,000 we determine the center frequency of an iron line in the solar spectrum to sub-MHz absolute frequency uncertainty in under 10 minutes, a fractional precision 1/4000 the linewidth. Additionally, we propose concepts that take advantage of refractive beam shaping to decrease the effects of pointing instabilities by 100x, and of frequency comb multiplexing to increase data acquisition rates and spectral bandwidths by comparable factors. Taken together, our work brings the power of telecommunications photonics and the precision of frequency comb metrology to laser heterodyne radiometry, with implications for solar and astronomical spectroscopy, remote sensing, and precise Doppler velocimetry.
We perform heterodyne spectroscopy at 1.56 micron with a tunable laser and thermal radiation from the Sun. The laser tuning is calibrated with a frequency comb, providing a simple spectrometer with absolute frequency tracebility and resolving power of 2,000,000
Optical atomic clocks are poised to redefine the SI second, thanks to stability and accuracy more than one hundred times better than the current microwave atomic clock standard. However, the best optical clocks have not seen their performance transferred to the electronic domain, where radar, navigation, communications, and fundamental research rely on less stable microwave sources. By comparing two independent optical-to-electronic signal generators, we demonstrate a 10 GHz microwave signal with phase that exactly tracks that of the optical clock phase from which it is derived, yielding an absolute fractional frequency instability of 1*10-18 in the electronic domain. Such faithful reproduction of the optical clock phase expands the opportunities for optical clocks both technologically and scientifically for time-dissemination, navigation, and long-baseline interferometric imaging.
The discovery and characterization of exoplanets around nearby stars is driven by profound scientific questions about the uniqueness of Earth and our Solar System, and the conditions under which life could exist elsewhere in our Galaxy. Doppler spectroscopy, or the radial velocity (RV) technique, has been used extensively to identify hundreds of exoplanets, but with notable challenges in detecting terrestrial mass planets orbiting within habitable zones. We describe infrared RV spectroscopy at the 10 m Hobby-Eberly telescope that leverages a 30 GHz electro-optic laser frequency comb with nanophotonic supercontinuum to calibrate the Habitable Zone Planet Finder spectrograph. Demonstrated instrument precision <10 cm/s and stellar RVs approaching 1 m/s open the path to discovery and confirmation of habitable zone planets around M-dwarfs, the most ubiquitous type of stars in our Galaxy.
Controlling femtosecond optical pulses with temporal precision better than one cycle of the carrier field has a profound impact on measuring and manipulating interactions between light and matter. We explore pulses that are carved from a continuous-wave laser via electro-optic modulation and realize the regime of sub-cycle optical control without a mode-locked resonator. Our ultrafast source, with a repetition rate of 10 GHz, is derived from an optical-cavity-stabilized laser and a microwave-cavity-stabilized electronic oscillator. Sub-cycle timing jitter of the pulse train is achieved by coherently linking the laser and oscillator through carrier-envelope phase stabilization enabled by a photonic-chip supercontinuum that spans up to 1.9 octaves across the near infrared. Moreover, the techniques we report are relevant for other ultrafast lasers with repetition rates up to 30 GHz and may allow stable few-cycle pulses to be produced by a wider range of sources.
Laser frequency combs based on erbium-doped fiber mode-locked lasers have shown great potential for compact, robust and efficient optical clock comparisons. However, to simultaneously compare multiple optical clock species, fiber laser frequency combs typically require multiple amplifiers and fiber optic paths that reduce the achievable frequency stability near 1 part in $10^{16}$ at 1s. In this paper we describe an erbium-fiber laser frequency comb that overcomes these conventional challenges and supports optical frequency synthesis at the millihertz level, or fractionally $3 x 10^{-18}$ $tau^{-1/2}$ by ensuring that all critical fiber paths are within the servo-controlled feedback loop. We demonstrate the application of this frequency comb as a synthesizer for optical clocks operating across a wavelength range from 650 nm to 2100 nm.
The most frequency-stable sources of electromagnetic radiation are produced optically, and optical frequency combs provide the means for high fidelity frequency transfer across hundreds of terahertz and into the microwave domain. A critical step in this photonic-based synthesis of microwave signals is the optical-to-electrical conversion process. Here we show that attosecond (as) timing stability can be preserved across the opto-electronic interface of a photodiode, despite an intrinsic temporal response that is more than six orders of magnitude slower. The excess timing noise in the photodetection of a periodic train of ultrashort optical pulses behaves as flicker noise (1/f) with amplitude of 4 as/Sqrt(Hz) at 1 Hz offset. The corresponding fractional frequency fluctuations are 1.4x10-17 at 1 second and 5.5x10-20 at 1000 seconds. These results demonstrate that direct photodetection, as part of frequency-comb-based microwave synthesis, can support the timing performance of the best optical frequency standards, and thereby opens the possibility for generating microwave signals with significantly better stability than any existing source.
Ultralow noise, yet tunable lasers are a revolutionary tool in precision spectroscopy, displacement measurements at the standard quantum limit, and the development of advanced optical atomic clocks. Further applications include LIDAR, coherent communications, frequency synthesis, and precision sensors of strain, motion, and temperature. While all applications benefit from lower frequency noise, many also require a laser that is robust and compact. Here, we introduce a dual-microcavity laser that leverages one chip-integrable silica microresonator to generate tunable 1550 nm laser light via stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) and a second microresonator for frequency stabilization of the SBS light. This configuration reduces the fractional frequency noise to $7.8\times10^{-14} 1/\sqrt{Hz}$ at 10 Hz offset, which is a new regime of noise performance for a microresonator-based laser. Our system also features terahertz tunability and the potential for chip-level integration. We demonstrate the utility of our dual-microcavity laser by performing optical spectroscopy with hertz-level resolution.
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 phase noise floor on a 10 GHz carrier of -175 dBc/Hz, the lowest ever demonstrated in the photodetection of a mode-locked fiber laser. At all offset frequencies, the photodetected 10 GHz phase noise performance is comparable to or better than the lowest phase noise results yet demonstrated with stabilized Ti:sapphire frequency combs.
Optical-frequency combs enable measurement precision at the 20th digit, and accuracy entirely commensurate with their reference oscillator. A new direction in experiments is the creation of ultracompact frequency combs by way of nonlinear parametric optics in microresonators. We refer to these as microcombs, and here we report a silicon-chip-based microcomb optical clock that phase-coherently converts an optical-frequency reference to a microwave signal. A low-noise comb spectrum with 25 THz span is generated with a 2 mm diameter silica disk and broadening in nonlinear fiber. This spectrum is stabilized to rubidium frequency references separated by 3.5 THz by controlling two teeth 108 modes apart. The optical clocks output is the electronically countable 33 GHz microcomb line spacing, which features an absolute stability better than the rubidium transitions by the expected factor of 108. Our work demonstrates the comprehensive set of tools needed for interfacing microcombs to state-of-the-art optical clocks.
We present a frequency domain model of shot noise in the photodetection of ultrashort optical pulse trains using a time-varying analysis. Shot noise-limited photocurrent power spectral densities, signal-to-noise expressions, and shot noise spectral correlations are derived that explicitly include the finite response of the photodetector. It is shown that the strength of the spectral correlations in the shot noise depends on the optical pulse width, and that these correlations can create orders-of-magnitude imbalance between the shot noise-limited amplitude and phase noise of photonically generated microwave carriers. It is also shown that only by accounting for spectral correlations can shot noise be equated with the fundamental quantum limit in the detection of optical pulse-to-pulse timing jitter.