Optical frequency comb repetition frequency locking method based on temperature control and piezoelectric ceramics
Technical Field
The invention relates to the field of time frequency transmission and measurement in information science, in particular to an optical frequency comb repetition frequency locking method based on temperature control and piezoelectric ceramics.
Background
The optical frequency comb is a mode-locked laser with stable frequency and phase, and is generated in the pursuit of more accurate time reference and high-precision measurement technology based on the time reference. The optical frequency comb is based on mode-locked lasers or microresonators and semiconductor technology and can produce a sequence of periodically stable laser pulses at a frequency that is repeated from tens of megahertz to hundreds of gigahertz. Besides being applied to the fields of high-precision measurement such as timing, astronomy, distance measurement and the like, the method also has mature commercial application.
As an example, in recent years, with the vigorous development of atomic clock technology, human definition of time is more and more accurate, and more powerful measurement means are provided for some basic physical researches. In order to effectively transmit these precise time-frequency signals while ensuring their accuracy, it is necessary to load a frequency reference onto the laser, and transmit it using transmission means such as a spatial optical path or an optical fiber path, one of which is to load onto an optical frequency comb. The use of an optical frequency comb as a medium has the advantage of a high signal-to-noise ratio, the possibility of delivering multiple radio frequencies and optical frequencies simultaneously, etc., compared to other methods (loading on optical frequencies, or radio frequency modulated continuous laser).
In order to load the frequency reference onto the optical frequency comb, the conventional method is to use a feedback control circuit to control a piezoelectric ceramic (PZT) to change the cavity length and lock the repetition frequency of the optical frequency comb to a reference source under a certain control temperature. While the locking range is limited due to the limited range of voltages applied by PZT (typically positive voltages, and less than hundred volts). If the ambient temperature changes drastically, even with temperature control of the mode-locked laser, the residual effects are sufficient to cause the heavy frequency to drift out of the PZT control range, resulting in a laser that cannot be locked for long periods of time. In addition, the voltage-telescopic response curve of PZT is not linear in the interval of 0 to hundred volts, and wide variations in this interval can cause instability of PID feedback, thereby affecting the quality of signal loading.
Disclosure of Invention
In order to solve the problems, the invention provides an optical frequency comb repetition frequency locking method based on temperature control and piezoelectric ceramics. And the temperature control set value is dynamically adjusted according to the voltage of the PZT by using a computing device, so that the temperature control set value and the PZT work cooperatively, and the long-time locking of the optical frequency comb is realized.
In order to achieve the above purpose, the invention adopts the following technical scheme:
An optical frequency comb locking method based on temperature control and piezoelectric ceramics comprises the following steps:
1) And connecting the reference frequency signal and the output signal of the optical frequency comb to be locked to a frequency error signal generating module to obtain the difference between the repetition frequency signal of the optical frequency comb output by the mode-locked laser and the reference frequency, namely, the error signal input of the servo module.
2) The error signal is used as the error input of the high-speed servo control module to perform feedback control. The output is amplified by a voltage control module, and piezoelectric ceramics (PZT) in the mode-locked laser is controlled to adjust the space optical path, so that the repetition frequency of the optical comb is dynamically adjusted.
3) Because the output of the voltage control module and the voltage applied by the PZT have certain limits, the feedback system can only adjust the repetition frequency of the optical comb in a small range. Because the length of the optical fiber is affected by temperature, the optical path of the optical fiber part in the resonant cavity of the mode-locked laser can be changed by controlling the temperature so as to slowly adjust the repetition frequency of the optical comb.
4) The output of the voltage control module is then taken as the input of the low speed servo feedback control module. In the low-speed servo feedback control module, a 'target voltage', namely a target voltage output by the voltage control module, needs to be set, and feedback is started
Previously, the temperature-controlled bias temperature was set to the current temperature. The temperature control setting temperature is started to be feedback controlled, and the temperature control setting temperature is regulated when the voltage applied by the PZT deviates from the set target voltage, so that the PZT voltage is maintained within a certain range on the basis of ensuring the frequency locking. The low-speed servo feedback control module calculates the temperature adjustment quantity of the optical fiber in the resonant cavity of the mode-locked laser according to the target voltage signal and the current regulation voltage value of the piezoelectric ceramic controller.
5) By using the structure, the output voltage of the voltage control module is stabilized near a certain set value through slow feedback adjustment temperature control, and the set range cannot be floated, so that the repeated frequency of the optical comb laser can be locked for a long time.
The invention has the beneficial effects that:
In order to ensure the locking bandwidth, PZT is generally used for feedback locking of the optical comb, but the application voltage range of the PZT is limited, and the PZT breaks down and loses functions due to the fact that the application voltage range of the PZT exceeds the application voltage range of the PZT, so that the locking range of a scheme for feedback locking by using the PZT is limited; in addition, the PZT stretches and contracts in a non-linear fashion with the applied voltage, which also affects the locking result. The laser temperature is generally fixed at a specific temperature in cooperation with independent temperature control, and is cooperatively locked. But the existing high-quality temperature control cannot ensure that the frequency drift is within the PZT locking range. According to the invention, the PZT and the temperature control are used for cooperative control, so that the range of the optical frequency comb repetition frequency locking is greatly enlarged, and the long-time locking is realized; meanwhile, by slowly changing the temperature control set value, the working voltage of the PZT is stabilized near a certain specific value, the locking result of the PID is not affected by the nonlinearity of the PZT response curve, and the quality of loading the reference frequency signal onto the optical frequency comb is improved.
Drawings
Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of the system structure of the present invention.
Detailed Description
In order to make the above features and advantages of the present invention more comprehensible, embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.
FIG. 1 is a flow chart of an optical frequency comb repetition frequency locking method based on temperature control and piezoelectric ceramics, which comprises the following steps:
1) Taking an optical frequency comb with a repetition frequency of 100MHz as an example, the frequency of the reference signal may be an integer multiple of 100 MHz. And connecting the outputs of the reference signal and the optical frequency comb to a frequency error signal generating module to obtain the difference between the reference signal and the optical frequency comb. If the phase demodulation is performed by using the frequency mixing device, the output of the laser needs to be subjected to photoelectric conversion, and the output is filtered by using a band-pass filter with the same frequency as the reference signal, and then the phase demodulation is performed by frequency mixing; if optical-microwave phase discrimination is used, the optical signal can be directly connected to the module. Whichever phase discrimination method is used, a low pass filter is connected to the output to filter out high frequency components in the signal.
2) And (3) connecting the error signal obtained in the steps into a high-speed servo control module to perform feedback control. The output is amplified by a voltage control module, and piezoelectric ceramics (PZT) in the mode-locked laser is controlled to adjust the length of the space light part, so that the optical comb repetition frequency is dynamically adjusted.
3) Meanwhile, the input of the voltage control module is also connected with the low-speed servo feedback control module for controlling the temperature control module. The low speed servo feedback control module sets the input bias as needed to set the PZT operating voltage at that point.
4) The low-speed servo feedback control module calculates the temperature adjustment quantity of the optical fiber in the resonant cavity of the mode-locked laser according to the input voltage signal and the current regulation voltage value of the piezoelectric ceramic controller; and the output of the low-speed servo feedback control module is connected to the temperature control module to control the temperature set value. When the PZT voltage deviates from a set value, the temperature control module regulates and controls the temperature of the optical fiber in the resonant cavity according to the optical fiber temperature regulating quantity, so that the PZT voltage is maintained near the set value.
5) By using the steps, the problem that the optical frequency comb repetition frequency cannot be locked for a long time and a series of problems brought by the nonlinearity of the PZT response curve are solved.
The above embodiments are only for illustrating the technical solution of the present invention and not for limiting the same, and those skilled in the art may modify or substitute the technical solution of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, and the protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to the claims.