arXiv subjects

Thach G. Nguyen

Publications and source records attributed to Thach G. Nguyen.

33 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

Microwave photonic fractional Hilbert transformer with an integrated optical soliton crystal micro-comb

We report a photonic microwave and RF fractional Hilbert transformer based on an integrated Kerr micro-comb source. The micro-comb source has a free spectral range (FSR) of 50GHz, generating a large number of comb lines that serve as a high-performance multi-wavelength source for the transformer. By programming and shaping the comb lines according to calculated tap weights, we achieve both arbitrary fractional orders and a broad operation bandwidth. We experimentally characterize the RF amplitude and phase response for different fractional orders and perform system demonstrations of real-time fractional Hilbert transforms. We achieve a phase ripple of < 0.15 rad within the 3-dB pass-band, with bandwidths ranging from 5 to 9 octaves, depending on the order. The experimental results show good agreement with theory, confirming the effectiveness of our approach as a new way to implement high-performance fractional Hilbert transformers with broad processing bandwidth, high reconfigurability, and greatly reduced size and complexity.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2019

Improved second harmonic performance in periodically poled LNOI waveguides through engineering of lateral leakage

In this contribution we investigate the impact of lateral leakage for linear and nonlinear optical waveguides in lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI). Silicon nitride (SiN) loaded and direct patterned lithium niobate cross-sections are investigated. We show that lateral leakage can take place for the TE mode in LNOI ridge waveguides (X-cut lithium niobate), due to the birefringence of the material. This work gives guidelines for designing waveguides in LNOI that do not suffer from the lateral leakage effect. By applying these design considerations, we avoided the lateral leakage effect at the second harmonic wavelength of a nonlinear optical waveguide in LNOI and demonstrate a peak second harmonic generation conversion efficiency of ~1160% W-1cm-2.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2019

Microwave Q-band oscillator at 49GHz for broadband frequency conversion based on a Kerr optical soliton crystal micro-comb

We report a broadband microwave frequency converter based on a coherent Kerr optical micro-comb generated by an integrated micro-ring resonator. The coherent micro-comb displays features that are consistent with soliton crystal dynamics with an FSR of 48.9GHz. We use this to demonstrate a high-performance millimeter-wave local oscillator at 48.9GHz in the Q-band for microwave frequency conversion. We experimentally verify the microwave performance up to 40 GHz, achieving a ratio of 6.8 dB between output RF power and IF power and a spurious suppression ratio of > 43.5 dB. The experimental results show good agreement with theory and verify the effectiveness of microwave frequency converters based on coherent optical micro-combs, with the ability to achieve reduced size, complexity, and potential cost.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2018

Tunable RF and microwave photonic sideband generator based on cascaded 49GHz and 200GHz integrated ring resonators

We demonstrate a continuously RF tunable orthogonally polarized optical single sideband (OP-OSSB) generator based on dual cascaded micro-ring resonators. By splitting the input double sideband signal into an orthogonally polarized carrier and lower sideband via TE- and TM-polarized MRRs, an OP-OSSB signal is generated. A large tuning range of the optical carrier to sideband ratio of up to 57.3 dB is achieved by adjusting the polarization angle of the input light. The operation RF frequency of the OP-OSSB generator can be continuously tuned with a 21.4 GHz range via independent thermal control of the two MRRs. Our device represents a competitive approach towards OP-OSSB generation with wideband tunable RF operation, and is promising for photonic RF signal transmission and processing in radar and communication systems.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2018

On-chip correlation-based Brillouin sensing: design, experiment and simulation

Wavelength-scale SBS waveguides are enabling novel on-chip functionalities. The micro- and nano-scale SBS structures and the complexity of the SBS waveguides require a characterization technique to monitor the local geometry-dependent SBS responses along the waveguide. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate detection of longitudinal features down to 200$μ$m on a silicon-chalcogenide waveguide using the Brillouin optical correlation domain analysis (BOCDA) technique. We provide simulation and analysis on how multiple acoustic and optical modes and geometrical variations influence the Brillouin spectrum.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2018

Photonic single sideband RF generator based on an integrated optical micro-ring resonator

We demonstrate narrowband orthogonally polarized optical RF single sideband generation as well as dual-channel equalization based on an integrated dual-polarization-mode high-Q microring resonator. The device operates in the optical communications band and enables narrowband RF operation at either 16.6 GHz or 32.2 GHz, determined by the free spectral range and TE/TM mode interval in the resonator. We achieve a very large dynamic tuning range of over 55 dB for both the optical carrier-to-sideband ratio and the dual-channel RF equalization.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2018

Brillouin spectroscopy of a hybrid silicon-chalcogenide waveguide with geometrical variations

Recent advances in design and fabrication of photonic-phononic waveguides have enabled stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in silicon-based platforms, such as under-etched silicon waveguides and hybrid waveguides. Due to the sophisticated design and more importantly high sensitivity of the Brillouin resonances to geometrical variations in micro- and nano-scale structures, it is necessary to have access to the localized opto-acoustic response along those waveguides to monitor their uniformity and maximize their interaction strength. In this work, we design and fabricate photonic-phononic waveguides with a deliberate width variation on a hybrid silicon-chalcogenide photonic chip and confirm the effect of the geometrical variation on the localized Brillouin response using a distributed Brillouin measurement.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2018

A Radio Frequency Channelizer based on Cascaded Integrated Micro-ring Resonator Optical Comb Sources and Filters

We report a broadband RF channelizer based on an integrated optical frequency Kerr micro-comb source, with an RF channelizing bandwidth of 90 GHz, a high RF spectral slice resolution of 1.04 GHz, and experimentally verify the RF performance up to 19 GHz. This approach to realizing RF channelizers offers reduced complexity, size, and potential cost for a wide range of applications to microwave signal detection.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2018

Harnessing optical micro-combs for microwave photonics

In the past decade, optical frequency combs generated by high-Q micro-resonators, or micro-combs, which feature compact device footprints, high energy efficiency, and high-repetition-rates in broad optical bandwidths, have led to a revolution in a wide range of fields including metrology, mode-locked lasers, telecommunications, RF photonics, spectroscopy, sensing, and quantum optics. Among these, an application that has attracted great interest is the use of micro-combs for RF photonics, where they offer enhanced functionalities as well as reduced size and power consumption over other approaches. This article reviews the recent advances in this emerging field. We provide an overview of the main achievements that have been obtained to date, and highlight the strong potential of micro-combs for RF photonics applications. We also discuss some of the open challenges and limitations that need to be met for practical applications.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2018

Photonic RF and microwave reconfigurable filters and true time delays based on an integrated optical Kerr frequency comb source

We demonstrate advanced transversal radio frequency (RF) and microwave functions based on a Kerr optical comb source generated by an integrated micro-ring resonator. We achieve extremely high performance for an optical true time delay aimed at tunable phased array antenna applications, as well as reconfigurable microwave photonic filters. Our results agree well with theory. We show that our true time delay would yield a phased array antenna with features that include high angular resolution and a wide range of beam steering angles, while the microwave photonic filters feature high Q factors, wideband tunability, and highly reconfigurable filtering shapes. These results show that our approach is a competitive solution to implementing reconfigurable, high performance and potentially low cost RF and microwave

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2017

An optical micro-comb with a 50GHz free spectral range for photonic microwave true time delays

We demonstrate significantly improved performance of a microwave true time delay line (TTDL) based on an integrated micro-ring resonator (MRR) Kerr optical comb source with a channel spacing of 49GHz, corresponding to 81 channels over the C-band. The broadband microcomb, with a record low free spectral range of 49GHz, results in a large number of comb lines for the TTDL, greatly reducing the size, cost, and complexity of the system. The large channel count results in a high angular resolution and wide beam steering tunable range of the phased array antenna (PAA). The enhancement of PAA performance matches well with theory, corroborating the feasibility of our approach as a competitive solution towards implementing compact low-cost TTDL in radar and communications systems.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2017

Photonic radio frequency and microwave intensity differentiator based on an optical frequency comb source in an integrated micro-ring resonator

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a microwave photonic intensity differentiator based on a Kerr optical comb generated by a compact integrated micro-ring resonator (MRR). The on-chip Kerr optical comb, containing a large number of comb lines, serves as a high-performance multi-wavelength source for implementing a transversal filter, which will greatly reduce the cost, size, and complexity of the system. Moreover, owing to the compactness of the integrated MRR, frequency spacings of up to 200-GHz can be achieved, enabling a potential operation bandwidth of over 100 GHz. By programming and shaping individual comb lines according to calculated tap weights, a reconfigurable intensity differentiator with variable differentiation orders can be realized. The operation principle is theoretically analyzed, and experimental demonstrations of first-, second-, and third-order differentiation functions based on this principle are presented. The radio frequency (RF) amplitude and phase responses of multi-order intensity differentiations are characterized, and system demonstrations of real-time differentiations for a Gaussian input signal are also performed. The experimental results show good agreement with theory, confirming the effectiveness of our approach.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2015

Microwave and RF Applications for Micro-resonator based Frequency Combs

Photonic integrated circuits that exploit nonlinear optics in order to generate and process signals all-optically have achieved performance far superior to that possible electronically - particularly with respect to speed. We review the recent achievements based in new CMOS-compatible platforms that are better suited than SOI for nonlinear optics, focusing on radio frequency (RF) and microwave based applications that exploit micro-resonator based frequency combs. We highlight their potential as well as the challenges to achieving practical solutions for many key applications. These material systems have opened up many new capabilities such as on-chip optical frequency comb generation and ultrafast optical pulse generation and measurement. We review recent work on a photonic RF Hilbert transformer for broadband microwave in-phase and quadrature-phase generation based on an integrated frequency optical comb. The comb is generated using a nonlinear microring resonator based on a CMOS compatible, high-index contrast, doped-silica glass platform. The high quality and large frequency spacing of the comb enables filters with up to 20 taps, allowing us to demonstrate a quadrature filter with more than a 5-octave (3 dB) bandwidth and an almost uniform phase response.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2015

Hilbert Transform based Quadrature Hybrid RF Photonic Coupler via a Micro-Resonator Optical Frequency Comb Source

We demonstrate a photonic RF Hilbert transformer for broadband microwave in-phase and quadrature-phase generation based on an integrated frequency optical comb, generated using a nonlinear microring resonator based on a CMOS compatible, high-index contrast, doped-silica glass platform. The high quality and large frequency spacing of the comb enables filters with up to 20 taps, allowing us to demonstrate a quadrature filter with more than a 5-octave (3 dB) bandwidth and an almost uniform phase response.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2014

Adiabatic two-photon quantum gate operations using a long-range photonic bus

Adiabatic techniques have much potential to realise practical and robust optical waveguide devices. Traditionally photonic elements are limited to coupling schemes that rely on proximity to nearest neighbour elements. We combine adiabatic passage with a continuum based long-range optical bus to break free from such topological restraints and thereby outline a new approach to photonic quantum gate design. We explicitly show designs for adiabatic quantum gates that produce a Hadamard, 50:50 and 1/3:2/3 beam splitter, and non-deterministic CNOT gate based on planar thin, shallow ridge waveguides. Our calculations are performed under conditions of one and two-photon inputs.

quant-ph↗