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Naijun Jin

Publications and source records attributed to Naijun Jin.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2025

Chip-scale modulation-free laser stabilization using vacuum-gap micro-Fabry-P\'erot cavity

Narrow-linewidth lasers are vital for a broad range of scientific and technological applications, including atomic clocks and precision sensing. Achieving high frequency stability is often as critical as ensuring scalability, portability, and cost-effectiveness in the development of low noise laser systems. Conventional electro-optic stabilization techniques, such as Pound-Drever-Hall locking to ultra-high-finesse resonators held in a vacuum chamber, provide excellent performance but remain challenging to scale. Here, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a cavity-coupled interferometric laser stabilization technique implemented on a silicon photonic chip and integrated with a compact, scalable micro-Fabry-P\'erot cavity. The vacuum-gap optical cavity operates in air, achieving a quality factor of approximately $2.0\times 10^9$ and a fractional frequency instability of $1.45\times 10^{-12}$ at one-second averaging time. Integration of the proposed technique with the compact cavity yields more than 38-fold reduction in the laser's integrated linewidth and nearly three orders of magnitude suppression of frequency noise at 10 Hz offset frequency. The hybrid-integration of the proposed photonic chip with the micro-Fabry-P\'erot cavity establishes a scalable and portable route toward chip-integrated ultra-stable lasers, paving the way for precision optical systems deployable beyond laboratory environments.

physics.optics↗
arXiv2025

From ultra-noisy to ultra-stable: optimization of the optoelectronic laser lock

We demonstrate thermal-noise-limited direct locking of a semiconductor distributed feedback (DFB) laser to a sub-1 mL volume, ultrastable optical cavity, enabling extremely compact and simple ultrastable laser systems. Using the optoelectronic laser locking method, we realize over 140 dB suppression of the DFB free-running laser noise at 10 Hz offset, a level we estimate to be ~ 70 dB greater than Pound-Drever-Hall locking can provide, and reach a phase noise level of -120 dBc/Hz at 200 kHz offset. We also demonstrate a new feedforward noise correction method that improves the quality of the heterodyne beat with an optical frequency comb by providing another 60 dB of laser noise rejection - a level that is 15 dB greater than predicted by current models. With feedforward, we transfer the cavity thermal noise limit across the comb spectrum despite the fact that the cavity-locked laser itself is noisy. These results establish a simple, low noise, compact approach to ultrastable laser locking that is compatible with integrated photonics, with applications in low phase noise microwave generation, sensing, and satellite ranging.

physics.optics↗
arXiv2025

Dual Laser Self-Injection Locking to a Micro Fabry-Perot for Low Phase Noise Millimeter-wave Generation

Low-noise and accessible millimeter-wave sources are critical for emergent telecommunications, radar and sensing applications. Current limitations to realizing low-noise, deployable millimeter-wave systems include size, weight, and power (SWaP) requirements, along with complex operating principles. In this paper we provide a compact photonic implementation for generating low phase noise millimeter-waves, which significantly simplifies the architecture and reduces the volume compared to alternative approaches. Two commercial diode lasers are self-injection-locked to a micro-Fabry-Perot cavity, and their heterodyne provides low phase noise millimeter waves reaching -148 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset on a 111.45 GHz carrier. Phase noise characterization at such levels and frequencies poses unique challenges, and we further highlight the capabilities of optically-based measurement techniques. Our approach to millimeter-wave generation can leverage advances in photonic integration for further miniaturization and packaging, thus providing a unique source of accessible, compact, and low-noise millimeter waves.

physics.optics↗
arXiv2024

Harnessing micro-Fabry-Perot reference cavities in photonic integrated circuits

Compact photonic systems that offer high frequency stability and low noise are of increasing importance to applications in precision metrology, quantum computing, communication, and advanced sensing technologies. However, on-chip resonators comprised of dielectrics cannot match the frequency stability and noise characteristics of Fabry-Perot cavities, whose electromagnetic modes live almost entirely in vacuum. In this study, we present a novel strategy to interface micro-fabricated Fabry-Perot cavities with photonic integrated circuits to realize compact, high-performance integrated systems. Using this new integration approach, we demonstrate self-injection locking of an on-chip laser to a milimeter-scale vacuum-gap Fabry-Perot using a circuit interface that transforms the reflected cavity response to enable efficient feedback to the laser. This system achieves a phase noise of -97 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset frequency, a fractional frequency stability of 5*10-13 at 10 ms, a 150 Hz 1/pi integral linewidth, and a 35 mHz fundamental linewidth. We also present a complementary integration strategy that utilizes a vertical emission grating coupler and a back-reflection cancellation circuit to realize a fully co-integrated module that effectively redirects the reflected signals and isolates back-reflections with a 10 dB suppression ratio, readily adaptable for on-chip PDH locking. Together, these demonstrations significantly enhance the precision and functionality of RF photonic systems, paving the way for continued advancements in photonic applications.

physics.optics↗
arXiv2024

Ultrastable vacuum-gap Fabry-P\'erot cavities operated in air

We demonstrate a vacuum-gap ultrastable optical reference cavity that does not require a vacuum enclosure. Our simple method of optical contact bonding in a vacuum environment allows for cavity operation in air while maintaining vacuum between the cavity mirrors. Vacuum is maintained long term, with no observed degradation in cavity stability for over 1 year after bonding. For a 1550 nm laser stabilized to a 9.7 mL in-vacuum bonded cavity, the measured Allan deviation is $2.4\times 10^{-14}$ at 1 s and its phase noise is thermal-noise-limited from 0.1 Hz to 10 kHz, reaching about -105 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset frequency. This represents the highest stability of any oscillator operated without a vacuum enclosure. Furthermore, we demonstrate a 0.5 mL in-vacuum bonded cavity created using microfabricated mirrors and cavity dicing, with phase noise reaching -95 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset frequency. By relieving the need for high-vacuum enclosures, we greatly enhance the portability and utility of low noise, compact cavity-stabilized lasers, with applications ranging from environmental sensing to mobile optical clocks to ultralow noise microwave generation.

physics.optics↗
arXiv2023

A Novel Approach to Interface High-Q Fabry-Pérot Resonators with Photonic Circuits

The unique benefits of Fabry-Pérot resonators as frequency-stable reference cavities and as an efficient interface between atoms and photons make them an indispensable resource for emerging photonic technologies. To bring these performance benefits to next-generation communications, computation, and timekeeping systems, it will be necessary to develop strategies to integrate compact Fabry-Pérot resonators with photonic integrated circuits. In this paper, we demonstrate a novel reflection cancellation circuit that utilizes a numerically optimized multi-port polarization-splitting grating coupler to efficiently interface high-finesse Fabry-Pérot resonators with a silicon photonic circuit. This circuit interface produces spatial separation of the incident and reflected waves, as required for on-chip Pound-Drever-Hall frequency locking, while also suppressing unwanted back reflections from the Fabry-Pérot resonator. Using inverse design principles, we design and fabricate a polarization-splitting grating coupler that achieves 55% coupling efficiency. This design realizes an insertion loss of 5.8 dB for the circuit interface and more than 9 dB of back reflection suppression, and we demonstrate the versatility of this system by using it to interface several reflective off-chip devices.

physics.optics↗
arXiv2023

Photonic chip-based low noise microwave oscillator

Numerous modern technologies are reliant on the low-phase noise and exquisite timing stability of microwave signals. Substantial progress has been made in the field of microwave photonics, whereby low noise microwave signals are generated by the down-conversion of ultra-stable optical references using a frequency comb. Such systems, however, are constructed with bulk or fiber optics and are difficult to further reduce in size and power consumption. Our work addresses this challenge by leveraging advances in integrated photonics to demonstrate low-noise microwave generation via two-point optical frequency division. Narrow linewidth self-injection locked integrated lasers are stabilized to a miniature Fabry-Pérot cavity, and the frequency gap between the lasers is divided with an efficient dark-soliton frequency comb. The stabilized output of the microcomb is photodetected to produce a microwave signal at 20 GHz with phase noise of -96 dBc/Hz at 100 Hz offset frequency that decreases to -135 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset--values which are unprecedented for an integrated photonic system. All photonic components can be heterogeneously integrated on a single chip, providing a significant advance for the application of photonics to high-precision navigation, communication and timing systems.

physics.optics↗
arXiv2022

Micro-fabricated mirrors with finesse exceeding one million

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.

physics.optics↗
arXiv2022

Observing frustrated quantum magnetism in two-dimensional ion crystals

Two-dimensional (2D) quantum magnetism is a paradigm in strongly correlated many-body physics. The understanding of 2D quantum magnetism can be expedited by employing a controllable quantum simulator that faithfully maps 2D-spin Hamiltonians. The 2D quantum simulators can exhibit exotic phenomena such as frustrated quantum magnetism and topological order and can be used to show quantum computational advantages. Many experimental platforms are being developed, including Rydberg atoms and superconducting annealers. However, with trapped-ion systems, which showed the most advanced controllability and quantum coherence, quantum magnetism was explored in one-dimensional chains. Here, we report simulations of frustrated quantum magnetism with 2D ion crystals. We create a variety of spin-spin interactions for quantum magnets, including those that exhibit frustration by driving different vibrational modes and adiabatically prepare the corresponding ground states. The experimentally measured ground states are consistent with the theoretical predictions and are highly degenerate for geometrically frustrated spin models in two dimensions. Quantum coherence of the ground states is probed by reversing the time evolution of the B-field to the initial value and then measuring the extent to which the remaining state coincides with the initial state. Our results open the door for quantum simulations with 2D ion crystals.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2022

Chip-Based Laser with 1 Hertz Integrated Linewidth

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.

physics.optics↗
arXiv2022

Thermal noise-limited laser stabilization to an 8 mL volume Fabry-Pérot reference cavity with microfabricated mirrors

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.

physics.optics↗
arXiv2020

422 Million Q Planar Integrated All-Waveguide Resonator with a 3.4 Billion Absorption Limited Q and Sub-MHz Linewidth

High Q optical resonators are a key component for ultra-narrow linewidth lasers, frequency stabilization, precision spectroscopy and quantum applications. Integration of these resonators in a photonic waveguide wafer-scale platform is key to reducing their cost, size and power as well as sensitivity to environmental disturbances. However, to date, the intrinsic Q of integrated all-waveguide resonators has been relegated to below 150 Million. Here, we report an all-waveguide Si3N4 resonator with an intrinsic Q of 422 Million and a 3.4 Billion absorption loss limited Q. The resonator has a 453 kHz intrinsic linewidth and 906 kHz loaded linewidth, with a finesse of 3005. The corresponding linear loss of 0.060 dB/m is the lowest reported to date for an all-waveguide design with deposited upper cladding oxide. These are the highest intrinsic and absorption loss limited Q factors and lowest linewidth reported to date for a photonic integrated all-waveguide resonator. This level of performance is achieved through a careful reduction of scattering and absorption loss components. We quantify, simulate and measure the various loss contributions including scattering and absorption including surface-state dangling bonds that we believe are responsible in part for absorption. In addition to the ultra-high Q and narrow linewidth, the resonator has a large optical mode area and volume, both critical for ultra-low laser linewidths and ultra-stable, ultra-low frequency noise reference cavities. These results demonstrate the performance of bulk optic and etched resonators can be realized in a photonic integrated solution, paving the way towards photonic integration compatible Billion Q cavities for precision scientific systems and applications such as nonlinear optics, atomic clocks, quantum photonics and high-capacity fiber communications systems on-chip.

physics.optics↗
arXiv2019

Realization of two-dimensional crystal of ions in a monolithic Paul trap

We present a simple Paul trap that stably accommodates up to a couple of dozens of \ensuremath{^{171}\mathrm{Yb}^+~} ions in a stationary two-dimensional lattice. The trap is constructed on a single plate of gold-plated laser-machined alumina and can produce a pancake-like pseudo-potential that makes ions form a self-assembly two-dimensional crystal which locates on the plane composed of axial and one of the transverse axes with around 5 $μ$m spacing. We use Raman laser beams to coherently manipulate these ion-qubits where the net propagation direction is perpendicular to the plane of the crystal and micromotion. We perform the coherent operations and study the spectrum of vibrational modes through globally addressed Raman laser-beams on a dozen of ions in the two-dimensional crystal. We measure the amplitude of micro-motion by comparing the strengths of carrier and micro-motion sideband transitions with three ions, where the micro-motion amplitude is similar to that of a single ion. The spacings of ions are small enough for large coupling strengths, which is a favorable condition for two-dimensional quantum simulation.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2018

Frequency stabilization of a 650 nm laser to I$_{2}$ spectrum for trapped $^{138}$Ba$^{+}$ ions

The optical manipulation of Ba$^{+}$ ions is mainly performed by a 493 nm laser for the S$_{1/2}$-P$_{1/2}$ transition and a 650 nm laser for the P$_{1/2}$-D$_{3/2}$ transition. Since the branching ratio between the 493 nm and 650 nm transitions of a single Ba$^{+}$ ion is comparable, stabilization systems of both lasers are equally important for Doppler cooling, sub-Doppler cooling, optical pumping and state detection. The stabilization system of a 493 nm laser to an absolute Te$_2$ reference has been well established. However, the stabilization of a 650 nm laser has not been presented before. Here we report twenty spectral lines of I$_{2}$ in the range of 0.9 GHz above the resonance of the P$_{1/2}$-D$_{3/2}$ transition. We stabilize the 650 nm laser through the optical cavity to the lowest one among these lines, which is about 350 MHz apart, as the absolute frequency reference. Furthermore, we measure the frequency differences between these iodine lines and the Ba$^+$ resonance through fluorescence excitation spectrum with well-resolved dark states, which is in agreement with the theoretical expectation. The presented stabilization scheme enables us to perform precise experiments with Ba$^{+}$ ions.

physics.atom-ph↗