Electro-optical frequency division and stable microwave synthesis

Abstract

Optical frequency division using frequency combs has revolutionized time keeping and the generation of stable microwave signals. We demonstrate optical frequency division and microwave generation by using a tunable electrical oscillator to create dual combs through phase modulation of two optical signals having a stable difference frequency. Phase-locked control of the electrical oscillator by optical frequency division produces stable microwaves. Our approach transposes the oscillator and frequency reference of a conventional microwave frequency synthesizer. In this way, the oscillator experiences large phase noise reduction relative to the frequency reference. The electro-optical approach additionally relaxes the need for highly-linear photodetection of the comb mode spacing. Besides simplicity, the technique is also tunable and scalable to higher division ratios.