10-level laser stabilization down to fiber thermal noise limit using self-homodyne detection.

We demonstrate a self-homodyne detection method to stabilize a continuous-wave 1550-nm laser to a 1-km optical fiber delay line, achieving a frequency instability of 6.3 × 10 at a 16-ms averaging time. This result, limited by fiber thermal noise, is achieved without the need for a vacuum system, highlighting the potential of our approach for ultra-stable laser systems in non-laboratory environments.

Ultrastable microwave and soliton-pulse generation from fibre-photonic-stabilized microcombs.

The ability to generate lower-noise microwaves has greatly advanced high-speed, high-precision scientific and engineering fields. Microcombs have high potential for generating such low-noise microwaves from chip-scale devices. To realize an ultralow-noise performance over a wider Fourier frequency range and longer time scale, which is required for many high-precision applications, free-running microcombs must be locked to more stable reference sources.

Femtosecond synchronization of multiple mode-locked lasers and a microwave oscillator by multicolor electro-optic sampling.

Simple multicolor electro-optic sampling-based femtosecond synchronization of multiple mode-locked lasers is demonstrated. Parallel timing error detection between each laser and a common microwave is achieved by wavelength division multiplexing and demultiplexing. The parallel timing error detection enables simultaneous femtosecond synchronization of more than two mode-locked lasers to the microwave oscillator, even when the lasers have different repetition rates.

Generation of multiple ultrastable optical frequency combs from an all-fiber photonic platform.

Frequency-stabilized optical frequency combs have created many high-precision applications. Accurate timing, ultralow phase noise, and narrow linewidth are prerequisites for achieving the ultimate performance of comb-based systems. Ultrastable cavity-based comb-noise stabilization methods have enabled sub-10-level frequency instability.