JP2009020492A - Apparatus and method for optical frequency comb generation using monolithic microresonator - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an improved optical frequency comb generator. <P>SOLUTION: The optical frequency comb generator comprises a laser device being arranged for generating input laser light, a dielectric micro-resonator having a cavity exhibiting a third order nonlinearity so that the micro-resonator is capable of optical parametric generation providing parametrically generated light, and a waveguide which is optically coupled to the micro-resonator and arranged for in-coupling the input laser light into the micro-resonator and out-coupling the parametically generated light out of the micro-resonator. The laser device, the waveguide and the micro-resonator are arranged for resonantly in-coupling the laser input light to a mode of the micro-resonator with a minimum power level so that an optical field inside the cavity exceeds a prescribed cascaded parametric oscillation threshold at which the parametrically generated light includes frequencies of frequency sidebands of the input light frequency and of the sidebands thereof. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a monolithic optical frequency comb generator. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a method for generating an optical frequency comb.

  The optical frequency comb (see Non-Patent Documents 1 to 3) gives a plurality of frequency markers that are equidistant from each other to infrared, visible light, and ultraviolet (see Non-Patent Documents 4 and 5). It can be linked to a reference value of radio frequency or microwave frequency (see Non-Patent Documents 6 and 7). Since their advent, frequency combs have been used in optical frequency metrology and precision measurements (see Non-Patent Documents 6 and 7), and broadband laser-based gas sensing (see Non-Patent Document 8) and molecular fingerprints (Non-Patent Documents). In applications such as those described in Document 9, it has become a trigger for a great effect. Early research has generated frequency combs by phase modulation of the internal cavity (see Non-Patent Documents 10 to 12), but recent frequency combs can stabilize the repetition frequency and the envelope phase of the carrier. It is generated using a comb-like mode structure of a possible mode-locked laser (see Non-Patent Document 13).

  Conventional techniques for generating optical frequency combs can generally have drawbacks related to the complexity of the setup of the optical system and the control costs.

Optical microcavities (see Non-Patent Document 21) are ideally suited for nonlinear frequency conversion, thanks to long and temporary confinement of light in a small space. This nonlinear frequency conversion has led to a dramatic improvement (see Non-Patent Document 22) at the threshold of non-linear light conversion by a stimulated nonlinear process such as Raman scattering (see Non-Patent Document 23). In contrast to inductive gain, parametric frequency conversion (see Non-Patent Document 24) is broadband that does not involve coupling with a dissipative reservoir, does not rely on atomic or molecular resonances, and a phase sensitive amplification process ( As a result, it is only suitable for tunable frequency conversion. In the case of materials with inversion symmetry, such as silica, the basic parametric interaction is related to four photons (see Non-Patent Document 26) and hyperparametric interactions (or modulation instabilities in fiber optics (Non-patent) Also known as document 26))) (see non-patent document 27). Such a process is based on four-wave mixing between two pump photons (frequency ω _P ) having a signal photon (frequency ω _S ) and an idler photon (frequency ω _I ). This process provides a pumping field to cause (phase coherent) signal light and idler light sidebands to appear from the vacuum wave. Energy conservation characteristics of this process

Imposes strict conditions on the amount of cavity dispersion that allows parametric interactions to be observed, while momentum conservation is essentially satisfied for signal and idler modes. In fact, in recent years, all resonant parametric oscillations have occurred in CaF ₂ crystals as well as in silica microcavities, as is done by nonlinear mode pooling generated by self-phase modulation and cross-phase modulation (see Non-Patent Document 15). It has become possible to observe the process (see Non-Patent Documents 15 and 16).

Conventional techniques that use optical microcavities for nonlinear optical conversion have the disadvantage that the number of sideband frequencies generated in the resonator is very limited. Thus, such an optical microcavity cannot be used to generate a frequency comb. Due to the dispersion effect in the cavity, more sideband frequencies are less likely to be generated (see Non-Patent Document 15).
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  It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved optical frequency comb generator and a method for generating an optical frequency comb that avoids the limitations of the prior art.

  This object is solved by an apparatus and method having the features of the independent claims. Advantageous embodiments and applications of the invention are defined in the dependent claims.

  According to a first aspect, the present invention is based on general technical teaching providing an optical frequency comb generator having the following configuration. This optical frequency comb generator is capable of generating a laser device (pump laser) arranged to generate an input laser beam having a predetermined input optical frequency, and an optical parametric generation that gives light generated parametrically. A dielectric microresonator having a cavity exhibiting third-order nonlinearity and a waveguide optically coupled to the microresonator, the waveguide being in the microresonator The input laser light is internally coupled, and the parametrically generated light is disposed outside the microresonator for external coupling. In the present invention, the laser device, the waveguide, and the microresonator have a light field in the cavity, a frequency of a direct frequency sideband of the frequency of the input laser light, and A laser at a predetermined power level so as to exceed a threshold in the parametrically generated light of a predetermined cascade parametric oscillation having a frequency equal to the frequency sideband of the sideband of the frequency of the input laser light The input light is formed to resonate and internally couple to the mode of the microresonator. In the present invention, a plurality of frequency sidebands (comb components) are generated in the microresonator so as to form a frequency comb.

  The microresonator, preferably combined with the waveguide, can be provided as a monolithic light component. In the present invention, a monolithic optical frequency comb generator, ie a device capable of generating a plurality of monolithic optical frequency components separated in frequency by a substantially constant frequency increment is disclosed. This microresonator can generate optical parametric generation. In this optical parametric generation, two photons of a first frequency are converted into two photons, a photon of a second frequency higher than the first frequency and a photon of a third frequency lower than the first frequency. , Converted in the cavity of the microresonator. This microresonator is preferably arranged so as to generate the parametrically generated light by four-wave mixing. In this case, the parametrically generated light is obtained by a non-degenerate parametric process, and photons of different frequencies are converted into two photons having shifted frequencies in the cavity of the microresonator.

The inventors have found that non-linear interactions in the microresonator enable cascade parametric generation that generates a frequency comb. This is because the initially generated signal sideband and idler sideband interact with each other by non-degenerate four-wave mixing (FWM) (see Non-Patent Document 28), and the interaction ω _P + ω _S = ω _I + ω by noting that it is possible to generate (see especially FIG. 1) higher order sideband (frequency omega _I2, having a omega _S2) by _S2, it may be understood. If the cavity exhibits low dispersion (smaller than parametric gain bandwidth (see Non-Patent Document 15)), continuous four-wave mixing for higher orders is essentially phase coherent sides that are equally spaced from one another. Band generation, i.e., an optical frequency comb.

  Prior to the present invention, the generation of optical frequency combs in this way is the coherence breakdown of potential that can occur with strong intensity and the parametric process itself is equidistant in pairs (mutually), etc. It was not expected by generating signal sidebands and idler sidebands that were not distances. However, the inventors have investigated the characteristics of the parametric sideband, generated a periodic light waveform in the time domain, and found the first evidence of frequency comb generation from a monolithic microresonator.

  In a first preferred embodiment of the present invention, the laser device, the waveguide, and the microresonator provide that the light field in the cavity has at least 10 frequency sidebands, particularly with respect to the input optical frequency. , Arranged to exceed a predetermined cascaded parametric oscillation threshold with parametrically generated light having at least 50 frequency sidebands. Preferably, the microresonator is configured to exhibit a high Q mode characterized by a photon lifetime greater than 10 nanoseconds.

  According to a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, the waveguide comprises a prism or a tapered optical fiber, the waveguide is formed of silicon or silicon nitride, and the microresonator comprises: A whispering gallery mode microresonator, the microresonator has a non-circular shape, the microresonator has a circular shape, and the microresonator has a disc shape or It has a ring shape, the microresonator is formed of at least one of silicon, silicon nitride, potassium fluoride, silica, and plastic. At least one aspect of being doped with a nonlinear material exhibiting the following nonlinearity is satisfied: That. If the microresonator is made of silicon on an insulator wafer material, the SOI technology provides a further effect that satisfies the present invention. In a further preferred embodiment of the invention, the microresonator has a diameter of less than 1 mm. Furthermore, the microresonator of the present invention is a microresonator including laser input light with an intensity greater than 1 gigawatt per square centimeter.

  In a further preferred embodiment of the invention, the optical frequency comb generator comprises a substrate having a microresonator and a waveguide. A monolithic frequency comb generator can be effectively constructed. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the waveguide is a rectangular waveguide disposed on the substrate. In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the microresonator is corrected for dispersion of the microresonator. Dispersion correction is performed by, for example, matching the dispersion of the material of the cavity and the inherent dispersion of the waveguide to each other, for example, the material and the configuration of at least one of the cavity and the waveguide. It is obtained by choosing at least one.

  A detection device is preferably arranged to detect the light generated parametrically. The detection device uses a feedback loop in which the repetition frequency (mode spacing of adjacent combs) controls at least one inherent characteristic of the laser device, the waveguide, and the microresonator, It can be coupled to a feedback loop so that it can be detected and stabilized. The food back loop includes the temperature of the microresonator, the distortion of the microresonator, the pump power of the input laser device, the laser frequency of the input laser device, the waveguide and the microresonator. It is preferably arranged to control at least one of the distances between.

  According to a second aspect, the present invention is based on general technical teaching that provides a method for generating an optical frequency comb. In this method, a laser device is used to generate an input laser beam having a predetermined input optical frequency, and the input laser beam is passed through a waveguide to form a dielectric microresonance having a cavity exhibiting third-order nonlinearity. Coupling to the resonator; providing light generated parametrically in the microresonator by optical parametric generation; and coupling the parametrically generated light of the microresonator, In the providing step, the laser input light has a predetermined cascade parametric in which the light field in the cavity has a frequency sideband frequency of the input light frequency and a frequency sideband frequency of the input light frequency. Oscillation of the parametrically generated light To exceed the threshold, at a minimum power level, it is coupled to the mode of this micro-resonator.

  The parametrically generated light preferably has first and higher order phase coherent frequency sidebands, ie, frequency sidebands of the input laser light. The cascade frequency sidebands are phase coherent with each other.

  In a further preferred embodiment of the invention, the parametrically generated light has a first-order and higher-order adjacent frequency sideband amplitude, particularly preferably less than one-third of the comb component amplitude. It is given that the amount of change is less than 3 dB. In another preferred aspect of the present invention, the external junction rate of the light generated parametrically is such that most of the sidebands have the same amplitude (intensity), that is, the amplitude of the frequency of the input laser (pump laser). Is selected to be a comparison amplitude (preferably less than 50% difference). In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the external junction ratio of the comb component of the parametrically generated light from the microresonator to the waveguide is a loss factor inherent in the resonator (the photon in the resonator). The reciprocal of the lifetime is 1/10 or more. These aspects include changing the range of the input laser light with respect to the resonance mode of the microresonator, changing the range of the input laser light to another resonance mode of the microresonator, Preferably satisfied by at least one measurement, including changing at least one configuration of the waveguide, eg, changing the spacing between the resonator and the waveguide, and changing the pump strength of the input laser. .

The present invention provides a known frequency continuous wave (CW) pump laser that interacts with the mode of a monolithic high-Q microresonator (see Non-Patent Document 14) by Kerr nonlinearity (see Non-Patent Documents 15 and 16). A completely new approach with frequency markers generated and placed equidistant from each other is shown. The inherent broadband characteristics of parametric gain allow the generation of discrete comb modes near 1550 nm and over a 500 nm wide span (˜70 THz), independent of the spread of the external spectrum. Optical heterodyne-based measurements reveal cascade parametric interactions that produce optical frequency combs that overcome the passive dispersion of the cavity. The uniformity of mode spacing has been measured experimentally with relative accuracy in 6 out of 10 ¹⁰ (6 parts in 10 ¹⁰ ). In contrast to femtosecond mode-locked lasers (see Non-Patent Document 17), the present invention provides a possible process towards a monolithic optical frequency comb generator that allows for a significant reduction in size, cost and power consumption. Show. In addition, this method can be applied to individual comb modes such as optical waveform synthesis (see Non-Patent Document 19), high-efficiency data transfer, or astronomical physics spectrometer setting (see Non-Patent Document 20). This makes it possible to operate at a repetitive frequency (see Non-Patent Document 18) exceeding 100 GHz, which is useful in the field where the frequency is required, and has not been realized so far.

  Further details and advantages of the preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which embodiments of the present invention are shown in FIGS. In particular, the combination of an external cavity laser and a microtoroid in FIG. 2 represents the basic embodiment of the frequency comb generator of the present invention.

  In the following description of the preferred embodiment, reference values are made to generate a frequency comb in a disk-shaped or ring-shaped microresonator. The application of the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and other solid resonance suitable for resonance that enhances the light field inside the cavity so as to exceed the threshold of cascade parametric oscillation. It is emphasized that a vessel may be used.

In order to generate the parametric sideband, a preferred embodiment uses an ultra high Q microresonator in the form of a toroid microcavity made of silica as described in [14]. This toroidal microcavity is a monolithic resonator made of silica on a silicon chip and has a large photon storage time (τ), ie a very high quality factor (Q = ωτ> 10 ⁸ ) and a small mode. Volume (V˜500λ ³ / n ³ ). Highly efficient coupling (see Non-Patent Document 29) is obtained using tapered optical fibers as described in previous work (Non-Patent Documents 22 and 30). Thanks to the high circulating power, parametric interactions are easily observed with a threshold value of about 50 μW. When pumped using a 1550 nm continuous wave (CW) laser source, extensive cascades and increases in parametric sidebands extending to both high and low frequencies are observed.

  FIG. 1 illustrates broadband parametric frequency conversion from a 75 μm diameter monolithic microresonator. FIG. 1A shows the spectrum of parametric frequency conversion observed in a 75 μm diameter monolithic toroidal microcavity when pumped using continuous wave (CW) laser power at 1555 nm and 60 mW. The combination of parametric interaction and four-wave mixing (FWM) results in broadband emissions that are spaced apart in the free spectral range of the cavity. The inset shows a broadband parametric conversion of parametric modes of different samples (starting power 130 mW) spreading over a wavelength span of approximately 500 nm and generating more than 70 modes. This asymmetry between the spectrum (having high power in the sideband shifted in the red direction) and the modulation of the emission is attributed to the Raman amplification and the change in coupling of the output of the tapered fiber, respectively. FIG. 1B schematically shows the process resulting from the parametric transformation, which shows degenerate four-wave mixing (left) and non-degenerate four-wave mixing (right) between cavities of different vibrational mode number (m) natural modes. Show. FIG. 1C shows a scanning electron microscope image of a toroid microcavity on a silicon chip.

FIG. 1 shows a spectrum in which a 75 μm diameter microcavity is pumped with a power of 60 mW, resulting in an internal cavity intensity exceeding 100 GW / cm ² . The parametric frequency conversion has a total conversion efficiency of 21.2% (the highest conversion efficiency observed when used in the overcoupled region was 83% (see Non-Patent Document 29)), and the range of 490 nm (See the inset in FIG. 1). These sidebands (called Carcom in the following description) could be observed in many different samples. Also, with larger manufactured samples (190 μm diameter), 380 nm broad carcom with 134 modes spaced by 375 GHz could be generated with slightly higher pump power consumption.

Measurements using a grating-based optical spectrum analyzer show that the generated modes differ only in a group of the same modes (ie, the number of angular motion modes (m), and the electric field dependence in the angular direction is

The accuracy given (about 5 GHz) is not enough to prove whether the observed carcoms are equidistant from each other. This proof requires a mode of the cavity that receives parametric gain that can be measured simultaneously by high spectral resolution, at least below the line width of the cavity (about 1-10 MHz in this experiment). The present inventors have accomplished this task by using an optical frequency comb based on a fiber laser (see Non-Patent Document 31) (referred to as a reference comb in the following description) as a reference grid. This principle based on measurement is as follows. Highest appearing beat note during the discovery process, (here, f _rep is, referring to FIG. 2B, see the repetition frequency of the comb) f _{rep / 2} less than if the multi-heterodyne frequency comb spectrometry ( Similar to Non-Patent Document 32), the beat generated on the photodiode by superimposing the reference comb on the carcom generates a beat note. This beat note constitutes a replica of the optical spectrum in the radio frequency domain. In particular, if the parametric spectra are equidistant from each other, these beat notes for the reference comb will constitute equidistant combs in the RF domain.

FIG. 2 shows the experimental setup for optical beat measurement. FIG. 2A shows an experimental setup with an external cavity laser (ECL) that is coupled to an ultra-high Q monolithic microresonator in a nitrogen environment by a tapered fiber. The parametric output is coupled to the first port of the beat note detection unit (BDU). The second port of the BDU is coupled to a mode-locked femtosecond erbium-doped fiber laser that functions as a reference comb. A grating is used to select the Kerr mode spectral region, and a PIN-type silicon photodiode records these beats relative to the reference comb (more details will be described below with reference to FIGS. 5-11). ) In FIG. 2A, the combination of an external cavity laser and a microtoroid represents a basic embodiment of the frequency comb generator of the present invention. FIG. 2B shows the measurement principle. The beat of the reference comb having the parametric line gives the beat frequency to the radio frequency region including the frequency information. FIG. 3 shows an electrical beat note spectrum. The upper panel of FIG. 3 shows the Fourier transform of the measured electrical beat note and nine simultaneously oscillated carside bands measured with the setup of FIG. 2 and generated from the pump to the photodiode. . The corresponding light spectrum is shown in the insert. The acquisition time for this measurement was 200 microseconds. The RF beat power change is due to the non-parallel alignment of the Kerr mode polarization (caused by the polarization mode dispersion in the fiber). The lower panel of FIG. 3 shows the recorded beats obtained from the RF spectrum as a function of the number of comb lines with errors. This measurement reveals that these lines are equidistant from each other within 3 kHz (ie, the frequency spacing of the comb mode is equidistant from each other within the experimental analysis of 6 out of 10 ¹⁰ ). To do.

In an experimental setup for optical beat measurements, a 1550 nm external cavity laser was used to pump parametric interactions (see FIG. 1A). To generate a beat note, the microcavity Kerr line was superimposed on a reference comb in a beat note detection unit (BDU). This beat note detection unit has a polarization optical system for combining two reference combs and a grating for selecting a spectral region where the car comb and the reference comb overlap. In this way, nine simultaneously oscillated parametric mode beats (covering wavelength spans greater than 50 nm) were recorded. FIG. 3 shows the RF beat note spectrum generated by superimposing the parametric output and the reference comb. It should be noted that the generated sidebands are found to be equidistant from each other within 5 kHz (when determined by a measurement time of 200 microseconds). Similar results were obtained for different samples and for different spectral regions of the comb. This indicates that the carcom mode is also equidistant in the frequency domain for six parts of 10 ¹⁰ and thus constitutes a frequency comb. It is important to note that the accuracy of the mode interval measurement can be greatly improved when using the counter (see Non-Patent Document 33).

Next, the role of dispersion, which is the basis for observed comb generation, is explained. FIG. 4 shows dispersion measurements of a monolithic microresonator with a diameter of 80 μm. This main diagram shows the accumulated change (ie, dispersion) in the free spectral range (FSR), ie, Δω = (ω _{m + 1} −ω _m ) − (ω _{1577 nm−} ω _{1585 nm} ). The change in FSR at relatively high frequencies (relatively short wavelengths) is referenced to the free spectral range recorded between 1577 nm and 1584 nm (the shaded area represents experimental uncertainty, Dotted line indicates linear fitting). As expected for whispering gallery modes governed by material dispersion, this free spectral range increases for relatively short wavelengths (see SI). The inset shows the reflection of the single mode cavity of the reference comb, which reflection is induced by a model junction between degenerations that shift the cavity mode pairs.

The dispersion in the microcavity of whispering gallery mode (WGM) is characterized by a deviation in the free spectral range (FSR), and Δω = (ω _{m + 1} −ω _m ) − (ω _m −ω _m−1 ) = ω _{m + 1} + ω _m−1 −2ω _m . This dispersion shows both the material contribution and the composition contribution (see supplementary information). Dispersion measurements were made by directly coupling a fiber-based frequency comb to a waveguide connected to a microresonator. Furthermore, this dispersion measurement demonstrated the effect of using an external cavity diode laser (ECDL) as a reference marker and stabilizing the cavity's marker laser and reference comb to each other. This stabilization was obtained by first using thermal self-locking of the microcavity (see Non-Patent Document 34) with the marker laser. The marker laser was then given a phase lock to lock the reference comb with a known offset frequency. Thanks to the ultra high Q value of this reference comb and high repetition frequency (100 MHz), only one comb mode can be resonated in a single microcavity mode at a given time. In this microcavity, a monochromator is used to record the mode of a single reference comb that is coupled to resonate, followed by the wavelength at which the parametric sideband is observed (at high pump power). Combined. Also, the reflected power from the cavity was recorded when the offset frequency of the reference comb was adjusted. This reflected signal is generated by model combination (see Non-Patent Documents 35 and 36) (inset of FIG. 4). In this way, the free spectral range (FSR) between modes with different angular mode numbers m was measured. Note that this measurement only gives the change in FSR modulo the reference comb repetition frequency. This uncertainty was removed by taking a second measurement with a different repetition frequency.

FIG. 4 shows the results of this measurement for a 80 μm diameter toroid microcavity. This measurement reveals that the FSR increases for a relatively short wavelength (ie positive FSR dispersion). However, the geometric variance accounts only for the negative FSR variance. This is because the inherent geometric resonator FSR dispersion (see Non-Patent Document 37) is

This is because it can be approximated by (see supplementary information). Here, R is the radius of the cavity. The measured positive value is the contribution resulting from the dispersion of the material, ie

Return to. Here, GVD = − (λ / c) × (∂ ² n / ∂λ ² ) is a parameter of group velocity dispersion (see supplementary information). In fact, the GVD of silica is positive for wavelengths longer than 1.3 μm, correcting for inherent resonator dispersion (resulting in ω _FSR > 0) and decreasing to about 20 MHz over a span of about 60 nm. Lead to accumulated dispersion. This low value indicates that these experiments are performed near the zero dispersion wavelength. Thus, it is noted that relatively low dispersion can be achieved by optimizing the cavity parameters and the zero dispersion wavelength.

Note that cavity dispersion beyond the line width of the cold cavity does not interfere with the parametric comb generation process. This is similar to the pooling mode in gas lasers as reported in Non-Patent Document 15 (see Non-Patent Document 38) and can be explained by the process of non-linear optical mode pooling. A strong CW pump laser can induce both self-phase modulation (SPM) and cross-phase modulation (XPM) (see Non-Patent Document 26). XPM is twice the SPM. This is Ω = 4 × (c / n) γP (effective nonlinearity is γ = (ω / c) × (n ₂ / A _eff ), where A _eff is the effective mode area and n is the refraction. Ratio, c is the speed of light in vacuum, n ₂ = 2.2 × 10 ⁻²⁰ m ² / W is the Kerr nonlinearity of the glass, and P is the stored light power in the cavity. As described in the study, the parametric gain is non-zero (0 <Δω <Ω) giving a range (Δω = 2ω _m −ω _m−1 −ω _{m + 1} ) that changes the wavelength. As a result, a net change occurs in the dispersion Δω = ω _{m + 1} + ω _m−1 −2ω _m of the (drive) cavity from a negative (non-drive) value (see Non-Patent Document 15), and a change in the refractive index is induced. XPM and SPM shift the resonant frequency of the cavity by the amount of the difference. It is noted that this reasoning is similar to the parametric gain in an optical fiber even when there is a momentum mismatch corresponding to a frequency mismatch (in the case of a waveguide) (see Non-Patent Document 28). Analyzing mode pooling has developed (Non-Patent Document 39) and XPM mode pooling has been experimentally measured (Non-Patent Document 40), but extending this argument to cascade parametric interactions It has not been realized yet. However, the results of this experiment show that this nonlinear mode pooling is equally applicable to the process underlying the formation of carcom.

  As a result, the comb generation process has the distinct effect that the parametric gain is broadband (limited only by a glass transparent window extending from about 200 to 2200 nm), resulting in a nonlinear mode pooling process. Represents internal cavity phase modulation (IPM) due to nonlinearity. This non-linear mode pooling process allows dispersion-related cut-offs that limit the width of the generated comb to internal cavity phase modulation when relying on the phase modulation of the active electro-optic internal cavity in early studies. Resulting in less sensitive sensitivity (see Non-Patent Document 11).

The direct significance of having equidistant car modes in frequency space is a periodic signal in the time domain. When this Kerr mode phase changes linearly with frequency, the generated light produces a Fourier-limited optical pulse (see Non-Patent Document 2). Information on the time shape of injection was obtained as follows using a second-order autocorrelation function.

(Use PPLN nonlinear crystal, see below) In fact, the periodic autocorrelation function yields maximum values at contrast ratios up to 5: 1 (for this layout and experimental setup, see FIG. 6 below) Reference), recorded for all samples. The relatively low contrast ratio (compared to the expected value of 8: 1) was attributed to the fact that the recorded waveform did not constitute a well separated pulse. Indeed, even when a Fourier limited pulse is generated in the cavity, the group velocity dispersion of the fiber leading to the autocorrelator, like the tapered fiber used for coupling, is now about 1 picosecond cavity. It will lead to a spread in the order of lap times (see below). However, from this measurement it can be concluded that the waveform emerging from the cavity is periodic and stable over time. In fact, these waveforms remained unchanged over the course of the measurement time (> 60 seconds) to confirm the sideband phase coherent characteristics. Therefore, a Fourier limited pulse with an appropriate pulse shape (see Non-Patent Document 19) could in principle be generated from the emitted spectrum. As an example, if compressed, the spectrum from FIG. 1 will have a pulse duration of 9.5 femtoseconds (assuming a hyperbolic secant squared pulse shape).

The frequency comb generation of the present invention can prove its usefulness for metrology if further improvements are given. When the light field is directly referenced to the microwave signal (see Non-Patent Document 2), an easily measurable repetition frequency will clearly prove useful. For this purpose, it may already be possible (with our current lithographic masks) that a microcavity with a diameter of 660 μm will operate at a repetition frequency of less than 100 GHz (Δν _FSR = c / (2πn _eff R)) Compared to 375 GHz for the largest sample). Gigahertz range spacing has proved useful in general metrology applications. Because, using a normal grating spectrometer, it is possible to directly analyze the modes of individual combs, while beat notes using CW lasers are more than 50 GHz compared to normal mode-locked lasers This is because it is technically usable in a small frequency range, and further effects can be obtained from the power sufficiently increased by a single comb component. For this purpose, recent advances in parametric interactions observed in millimeter-sized crystalline microresonators are highly promising results (see Non-Patent Document 16).

This experimental limitation on mode spacing accuracy could be greatly improved when relying on counters such as those used in pioneering experiments on femtosecond laser comb spacing (non-patent literature). 33). Further, it may be possible to improve the spectral bandwidth to the octave by means of an f-2f interferometer (see Non-Patent Document 13) (via thermal tuning (see Non-Patent Document 41)). Stabilization may be possible. The generation of phase coherent emission over a wide bandwidth, beyond frequency comb generation, is yet another application that could be obtained from this study, for the synthesis of ultrashort light pulse waveforms, or broadband emission. Prove the fun as a source. With a high repetition frequency, this source could be used to perform a non-linear process that emits terahertz radiation. This high repetition frequency of chip devices is also due to the generation of multiple channels for high capacity data transfer or related applications that require addressing and manipulation of individual components of the frequency comb. Can be useful. Furthermore, if the material exhibits third-order nonlinearity and a sufficiently long photon lifetime, the parametric interaction can be achieved even in other types of microcavities, such as CaF ₂ (see Non-Patent Document 16). Note what happens. Such a cavity configuration is conceptually not central to the present invention. The phenomenon reported is that other types of high Q, such as WGM resonators based on silicon (see non-patent document 42), SOI (see non-patent document 43) or crystal structures (see non-patent document 44). A value microresonator would be observable as well. In fact, recent observations of net parametric gain (see Non-Patent Document 45) on silicon chips is a step that can be expected in this direction.

  In the following, more detailed information on the optical frequency comb generator of the present invention from a monolithic microresonator will be added. In FIG. 5, another spectrum of Carcom having a narrow free spectral range is shown. The next section describes the experimental setup of the beat note and the dispersion measurement understood by the theoretical analysis of microtoroid dispersion. The last section contains information about the autocorrelation trace obtained from the emitted spectrum of the microcavity.

  FIG. 5 shows the spectrum of Carcom at a low repetition frequency compared to the embodiment of FIG. Carcom was generated with a 177 μm diameter toroid. The total power of this spectrum (pump line + generated sideband) is around 500 mW, and more than 134 lines are distributed. The free spectral range is 3 nm. The corresponding frequency is 375 GHz. For large samples, it would be possible to generate a repetition frequency less than 100 GHz that would allow a direct measurement of the repetition frequency using a wide bandwidth photodiode.

A reference frequency comb is used in the form of a mode-locked fiber laser to prove that the parametric car lines are equidistant from each other. The principle underlying the measurement is similar to the concept of multi-heterodyne spectroscopy. The reference comb generates a spectrum having the frequency f ₀ + n · f _rep, where f _rep is the repetition frequency, f ₀ is the carrier envelope offset frequency, and n is an integer on the order of 2 · 10 ^6. Carcom assumes that the frequency f ₀ + m · f _FSR is generated (m˜200). The signal generated by interfering these two combs will have a beat note spectrum in the given radio frequency (RF) region. Repetition frequency, FSR of the cavity, repetition multiple of the frequency of the reference comb, i.e. _{f FSR ~m 0 · f rep (} m 0 is an integer) if it is adjusted to be close to, N pieces of different Kerr comb lines, N different RF beat notes that are equally spaced from each other in the RF region, ie the frequency of the RF beat node f ^″ ₀ + Δ · k (Δ = (f _FSR mod f _rep ), k = 1) ... N) will be generated.

  The experimental setup is shown in FIG. 2 as described above. A tunable external cavity diode laser (ECDL) is used to pump microtoroid resonances as described in publications 47 and 48. Since this cavity resonance is polarization dependent, an internal fiber polarization controller is used to adjust the polarization of the pump laser. The microtoroid is placed in a sealed enclosure containing a nitrogen environment so as to avoid the precipitation of moisture on the surface of a silica toroid having a strong absorption width in the 1550 nm region.

In the microresonator, the line spectrum is generated by nonlinear parametric interaction and four-wave mixing (see above). The output signal of this tapered optical fiber (with light coupled from the microresonator behind the tapered fiber) is split into two by a 3 dB coupler and is connected to an oscilloscope and an optical spectrum analyzer. Monitored by a diode. One of the taper outputs is sent to a beat detection unit (BDU) and superimposed on a reference frequency comb based on a fiber laser that spreads octaves (see Non-Patent Document 49). This reference frequency comb has a repetition frequency of 100 MHz. The BDU has a plurality of quarter-wave plates and a plurality of half-wave plates so as to produce orthogonal linear polarization with two input beams subsequently combined using a polarizing beam splitter. Next, an adjustable linear combination of the polarizations of the two input beams is rotated about the transmission axis of the polarizer with which the two input beams interfere by one half-wave plate. In order to increase the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), light in the spectral region including Kircom is selected by the grating and is finally detected using a PIN-type InGaAs photodiode (Menlo system FPD510). An oscilloscope with a built-in FFT routine is used to analyze the radio frequency spectrum. For a rough analysis, an electrical spectrum analyzer is used. Since the repetition frequency of the reference comb is around 100 MHz, the beat note frequency between the laser line and the reference comb is in the range of 0 MHz to 50 MHz. Since the repetition frequency of this reference comb adjusted to (f _FSR modf _rep ) is a small frequency, the condition 0 <k · Δ <f _rep / 2 is satisfied for all k of interest. Moreover, the observation of equidistant RF beats gives a clear proof that Kircom is equidistant.

To measure the dispersion of the cavity, the structure shown in FIG. 6 is used. FIG. 6 is the experimental setup for this dispersion measurement. The lower left beat detection unit is used to provide an offset lock between the external cavity diode laser (ECDL) and the fiber laser frequency comb. Thus, the signal from the photodiode in the beat detection unit is first removed using a 50 MHz low pass so as to remove the fiber laser comb's 100 MHz repetition frequency strong signal. The beat note signal is then mixed using a variable frequency generator (10-60 MHz) down to 10 MHz and compared to a stable 10 MHz RF reference value. The output of the comparator is fed to a PI feedback amplifier connected to the piezomechanical control of the fiber laser repetition frequency. By adjusting this variable frequency generator, the distance between the ECDL laser line and the adjacent comb line can be changed to an arbitrary value between 0 MHz and f _rep / 2. Further, the ECDL and fiber comb are coupled to a microcavity having a microtoroid resonance that is thermally locked to the ECDL. In order to measure the distance between two resonances in the cavity, an optical spectrum analyzer (OSA) in zero span mode is set to a wavelength at the resonance frequency of the cavity that is different from the resonance pumped by ECDL. The offset lock is then changed until a fiber comb reflected signal is detected by the OSA. When this is done, the ECDL and one mode of the fiber comb resonate with two different modes of the microcavity. This means that the FSR can be obtained as f _beatnote + n · f _rep .

In summary, the external cavity laser is first locked to one of the fundamental WGM cavity modes (the same resonance that produces a cascade sideband at high power) near 1550 nm. The cavity resonance of the monolithic microresonator is locked to the external cavity laser by thermal self-locking technology (see Non-Patent Document 50). The power is chosen to be well below the parametric threshold and less than 85 μm, but to provide a sufficiently stable lock. The frequency comb is then offset locked to the external cavity laser. This is done by recording the beat note and ECDL of the frequency comb in a separate beat note detection unit (see the last section for the principle of this beat note detection). In order to achieve stable rocking, the generated beat is removed and amplified to produce an SNR of about 25-30 dB (with an analysis bandwidth of 400 kHz). For dispersion measurements, the frequency comb is locked in any optical wavelength range with respect to ECDL. This is done by mixing the beat notes with a (variable) reference signal (f _offset ) lowered to 10 MHz and using a mirror attached to the piezoelectric tube to control the cavity length. By using phase-locking with feedback of the fiber comb repetition frequency (f _rep ) (all RF generators and analyzers are internally stabilized using a 10 MHz reference value) Be careful). Due to the fact that the cavity linewidth is 5 MHz or less and the fiber comb (FC) repetition frequency is 100 MHz, the mode of one FC comb resonates with one microresonator mode at a given time. Can do. Since it is difficult to measure the coupling of individual comb modes to the resonator in transmission, the reflection of the cavity induced by model coupling is measured (see Non-Patent Document 51). The change in f _offset (and the f _rep recorded at the same time) can resolve the line width of the individual cavity modes in reflection. This measurement thus provides an accurate method for measuring the frequency gap (free spectral range) between the resonances ν _m and ν _{m + Δm} of the two cavities modulo the fiber comb repetition frequency. The low power (about 10 nW) of the individual FC lines ensures that the measured cavity mode is not thermally distorted. In order to remove the uncertainty of the number of comb lines (n) between the FSRs of the cavities, ie n = [(ν _m −ν _{m + Dm} ) / f _rep ], a second measurement can correct n. This is done using different repetition frequencies. Thus, the actual free spectral range between the resonances of the two cavities can be obtained by FSR = f _beatnote + n · f _rep .

The dispersion of the microcavity of the present invention has two contributions. First, whispering gallery mode microcavities exhibit substantial changes in the free spectral range depending on the resonator configuration. The resonance frequency of the fundamental mode of the microsphere is approximately given by the following equation (see Non-Patent Document 52).

Here, c is the speed of light in vacuum, n is the refractive index, R is the radius of the cavity, and η ₁ is the first zero of the Airy function (η ₁ to −2.34). Thus, the change in free spectral range

Is

Given by. Clearly, the free spectral range decreases with increasing frequency corresponding to negative group velocity dispersion (GVD). That is, the low frequency mode shows a shorter lap time than the high frequency mode. FIG. 7 shows the change for 40 μm and 80 μm radius microspheres (whispering gallery microsphere resonators). That is,

It is. The Selmeier equation shows the FSR dispersion for the two resonator radii (40 μm and 80 μm), including the effect of silica dispersion. The resonance position is calculated using the asymptotic expansion of the resonance position of the microsphere. Due to the different signs of silica material and resonator dispersion, a zero dispersion point exists in the infrared.

The second contribution results from the dispersion of the combined silica material that makes up the resonator. This contribution can be estimated by considering that the refractive index n is actually a function of the frequency n≡n (m) (and hence the number of modes m). Ignoring constitutive dispersion, the combined silica-only GVD is guided by changes in FSR,

here,

Is the group velocity dispersion of fused silica. It is well known that the parameters of this material change sign from about −100 ps / nm · km at 800 nm to +20 ps / nm · km at 1550 nm in the wavelength region of 1300 nm. Combining these two contributions, the positive sign of GVD can, in particular, allow some cancellation of the dispersion of these resonator configurations and give a nearly constant FSR over a wide frequency span. FIG. S3 shows the change in FSR for 80 μm and 160 μm microspheres, considering both material and compositional contributions. Significantly, a zero dispersion point occurs near the manipulated wavelength. Note that the position of the zero dispersion point relative to the toroid microcavity is expected to be shifted to a relatively short wavelength due to different resonator configurations. This expectation is proved by finite element simulation showing that the resonance wavelength for a given value of m is shorter in the microtoroid cavity compared to the microsphere (see Non-Patent Document 53).

  Interferometer autocorrelation experiments were performed using a Michelson interferometer. The length of one of the arms can be varied by a stepper motor that controls the transition stage provided to the back reflecting mirror. A 1 nm long lithium niobate periodically poled crystal (PPLN, Thorlabs SHG5-1) is used to generate a second harmonic oscillation of incident light. Because of the relatively high conversion efficiency, the polarization of the beam can be adjusted using a half-wave plate and a quarter-wave plate, and this beam is collected in the crystal by an achromatic double lens. The generated second harmonic vibration light passes through a 950 nm short-pass filter for blocking the fundamental wavelength, and is collected by a high-sensitivity silicon photodiode. The PPLN crystal used has a phase suitable around 1550 nm and is 1 mm long.

  FIG. 9 shows a second order autocorrelation experiment. FIG. 9A shows a schematic of an autocorrelator using a PPLN crystal that doubles the frequency and a silicon photodiode for recording the second harmonic. This setup is in air and is separated from the microresonator by 2 m by an optical fiber. FIG. 9B shows a measured autocorrelator trace (see corresponding parametric spectrum in FIG. 8). Note that the relatively low contrast ratio is attributed to the fact that the pulses are not well separated. The cavity turnaround time in this case is 1.03 picoseconds, as expected for a 70 μm diameter microresonator. The corresponding spectrum used to generate the second order autocorrelation shown in FIG. 9 is shown in FIG. The optical power axis is normalized with respect to the pumping mode power. The average power delivered to this autocorrelator is about 50 mW.

  Due to the broad bandwidth of the generated spectrum, the role of fiber dispersion is important. For a spectrum of 100 nm width near 1550 nm, the bandwidth limited pulse will spread 1 m of the SMF-28 fiber used in 2 picoseconds (15 ps / km · nm due to group velocity dispersion) GVD). This effect could be partially corrected by the tapered optical fiber itself (see Non-Patent Document 54), which exhibits large negative dispersion (approximately −2000 ps / km nm for a 0.8 μm taper). ). However, this correction was not received in this experimental set. The second harmonic generation setup was used as an independent method to demonstrate the periodic characteristics of the wavelengths rather than as a measure of the fundamental pulse duration of these wavelengths.

  The optical sidebands generated by optical parametric oscillation (OPO) in a monolithic microcavity are equidistant from each other, thus overcoming the inherent cavity dispersion. This leads to the generation of a frequency comb with an input power of less than 10 mW.

  FIG. 11 shows a typical optical spectrum obtained by pumping a 80 μm diameter toroid microcavity using a 1553 nm external cavity laser. High efficiency evanescent coupling from a tapered optical fiber is used to excite the microtoroid whispering gallery mode (see FIG. 1). The output of this tapered optical fiber is monitored using an optical spectrum analyzer (OSA), and the generation of cascade parametric lines spaced by the free spectral range (FSR) of the cavity and 150 nm symmetrical to the pump wavelength. It is used to prove that it extends the wavelength range of.

  Non-zero dispersion of the cavities changes the resonant modes of the cavities so that they are not equidistant from each other. Since the generated OPO sidebands are equidistant from each other, prior to the present invention, it was expected that these sidebands would not resonate in this cavity. However, thanks to the enhancement of cross-phase modulation and self-phase modulation by the effect of the cavity, parametric scattering and four-wave mixing (FWM), which produces a cascade frequency, can make the modes of the cavity equally spaced from each other.

  In order to experimentally prove that the generated sidebands are actually equidistant, we used a frequency comb based on fiber as a reference value (see Non-Patent Document 1). The measurement mechanism is further illustrated in FIG. A fiber coupled to an external cavity diode laser is connected to a tapered optical fiber coupled to a toroid. After combining, a portion of the microcavity output field is sent to the beat note setup. In this beat note setup, the generated OPO sideband is superimposed on an optical frequency comb based on a femtosecond fiber laser to generate a radio frequency (RF) beat signal. A half-wave plate (HW), a quarter-wave plate (QW), and a polarization beam spiriter (PBS) are used to superimpose the two input beams. The laser beam is then sent to the other PBS at a 45 ° angle where the two laser signals interfere and a beat note signal is generated. This reference comb gives spectra 100 MHz apart in the wavelength range of 1200 nm to 1700 nm. This repetition frequency and the spacing between the respective lines can be adjusted using a stepping motor in the range of about 10 kHz. This measurement principle is that two superposed equidistant combs with similar (sub-harmonic) comb spacing will generate beat note equidistant combs in the RF domain. Due to the 100 MHz comb spacing of the reference comb, a set of beat notes can be easily detected using a conventional photodetector and analyzed using a standard electrical signal process. (See FIG. 10).

  FIG. 10 shows the experimental setup. Gray lines indicate optical fibers and dark shadow lines indicate free space optics. An external cavity diode laser is coupled to the toroid after passing through the polarization controller (PC). The dotted box shows a nitrogen clean chamber with a microcavity. The transmitted light is directed to a fiber coupler (FC), from which it is sent to the lower left photodiode and beat node setup. In this beat note setup, the comb line generated in the microcavity and the frequency comb comb line based on the femtosecond fiber laser are superimposed in a polarization beam spirit cube (PBC). A grating (G) is used to select a relatively small wavelength range reflected by the photodiode so as to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. The photodiode signal is analyzed by an ESA (Electrical Spectrum Analyzer) and an oscilloscope, which directly converts the signal detected by the FFT routine into the frequency domain. The graph on the right is the spectrum of the measured radio frequency beat note from nine parametrically generated lines that extend beyond 7.5 THz in the optical frequency domain.

  The RF beat frequency for a total of nine simultaneously measured carcom components is actually measured equidistant from each other, on the order of 3 kHz, which is limited only by the measurement bandwidth analysis by the inventors.

  Since the calculated cavity dispersion is in the range of several hundred MHz, it can be concluded that this cavity dispersion can be overcome over a wide bandwidth. The autocorrelation measurement of the interference intensity further shows that femtosecond pulses (<100 femtoseconds) with very high repetition frequencies (terahertz range) are generated. This opens the route to a planar device for frequency comb generation.

  The features of the invention disclosed in the above description, in the drawings and in the claims can be made in various embodiments by combinations thereof as well as individual important elements.

FIG. 1A shows the spectrum of parametric frequency conversion observed in a 75 μm diameter monolithic toroidal microcavity when pumped with 1555 nm continuous wave (CW) laser power at 60 mW. FIG. 1B schematically shows the process resulting from parametric transformation, with degenerate four-wave mixing (left) and non-degenerate four-wave mixing (right) between cavities with different angular mode number (m) natural modes. Indicates. FIG. 1C shows a scanning electron microscope image of a toroid microcavity on a silicon chip. FIG. 2A shows an experimental setup with an external cavity laser (ECL) coupled to an ultra-high Q monolithic microresonator in a nitrogen environment by a tapered fiber. FIG. 2B shows the measurement principle. FIG. 3 shows an electrical beat note spectrum. FIG. 4 shows dispersion measurements of a monolithic microresonator with a diameter of 80 μm. FIG. 5 shows the spectrum of Carcom at a low repetition frequency compared to the embodiment of FIG. FIG. 6 shows the experimental setup for the dispersion measurement. FIG. 7 shows the change for 40 μm and 80 μm radius microspheres (whispering gallery microsphere resonators). FIG. 8 shows the corresponding spectrum used to generate the second order autocorrelation shown in FIG. . FIG. 9A shows a schematic of an autocorrelator using a PPLN crystal that doubles the frequency and a silicon photodiode for recording the second harmonic. FIG. 9B shows a measured autocorrelator trace. FIG. 10 shows the experimental setup. FIG. 11 shows a typical optical spectrum obtained by pumping a 80 μm diameter toroid cavity using a 1553 nm external cavity laser.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Laser device, 2 ... Micro resonator, 3 ... Waveguide.

Claims (31)

A laser device arranged to generate an input laser beam having a predetermined input optical frequency;
A dielectric microresonator having a cavity exhibiting third-order nonlinearity, so that optical parametric generation that provides parametrically generated light is possible;
Optically coupled to the microresonator, the input laser light is in-coupled into the microresonator, and the parametrically generated light is externally coupled to the outside of the microresonator. An optical frequency comb generator comprising an out-coupling waveguide,
The laser device, the waveguide, and the microresonator are configured such that the light field in the cavity has a frequency sideband frequency of the input optical frequency and a frequency sideband frequency of the input optical frequency sideband. Resonance internal coupling of the laser input light to a mode of the microresonator at a minimum power level so as to exceed a threshold for the parametrically generated light of a predetermined cascaded parametric oscillation An optical frequency comb generator that is arranged to let.   The laser device, the waveguide, and the microresonator have a predetermined cascade parametric oscillation in which a light field in the cavity has a frequency of at least 10 frequency sidebands with respect to the input optical frequency. The optical frequency comb generator of claim 1 arranged to exceed a threshold for the parametrically generated light.   3. The optical frequency comb generator of claim 1 or 2, wherein the microresonator is configured to exhibit a high Q-value mode characterized by a photon lifetime greater than 10 nanoseconds.   The optical frequency comb generator according to any one of the preceding claims, further comprising a substrate having the microresonator and the waveguide.   The optical frequency comb generator according to claim 4, wherein the waveguide is a rectangular waveguide disposed on the substrate.   The optical frequency comb generator according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the microresonator is corrected for dispersion of the microresonator.   6. An optical frequency comb generator according to any one of the preceding claims, further comprising a detection device arranged to detect the parametrically generated light.   A feedback loop coupled to the detection device, and a repetition frequency (a spacing between modes of adjacent combs) of at least one of the laser device, the waveguide, and the microresonator; 8. The optical frequency comb generator of claim 7, wherein the optical frequency comb generator is detected and stabilized using the feedback loop to control inherent characteristics.   The feedback loop includes the temperature of the microresonator, the strain of the microresonator, the pump power of the input laser device, the laser frequency of the input laser device, and between the waveguide and the microresonator. 9. The optical frequency comb generator of claim 8, arranged to control at least one of the distance.   The optical frequency comb generator according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the laser device is a stabilized continuous wave laser.   The optical frequency comb generator of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the microresonator has a diameter of less than 1 mm.   The laser device, the waveguide, and the microresonator are arranged to generate optical pulses having a repetition frequency given by an integer multiple of the free spectral range of the microresonator. An optical frequency comb generator according to any one of the preceding claims.   An optical frequency comb generator according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the microresonator comprises light having an intensity greater than 1 gigawatt per square centimeter.   All the above claims further comprising at least one of phase and amplitude manipulation devices arranged to individually manipulate at least one of phase and amplitude in the parametrically generated comb component An optical frequency comb generator according to any one of the preceding paragraphs.   Optical frequency comb generation according to any one of the preceding claims, further comprising a compression device arranged to compress the optical pulses into at least one of Fourier limiting and spectral flattening vessel.   Optical frequency comb generation according to any one of the preceding claims, further comprising a modulation device arranged to individually modulate at least one of phase and amplitude of the parametrically generated comb component vessel.   The optical frequency comb generator of claim 16, wherein the modulation device is arranged to modulate the modulated comb component as a carrier for transmission of data.   The optical frequency of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the laser device, the waveguide, and the microresonator are arranged to generate the parametrically generated light by four-wave mixing. Com generator.   The laser device, the waveguide, and the microresonator are arranged to generate the parametrically generated light using first-order and higher-order phase coherent frequency sidebands. An optical frequency comb generator according to any one of the preceding claims.   The laser device, the waveguide, and the microresonator emit light generated parametrically such that the amplitude of adjacent frequency sidebands of the first order and higher order changes less than 3 dB. An optical frequency comb generator according to any one of the preceding claims, arranged to generate.   Any of the preceding claims, wherein the external coupling rate of the parametrically generated light from the microresonator to the waveguide is greater than or equal to one-tenth of the loss rate inherent in the microresonator. 1 optical frequency comb generator. The waveguide comprises a prism or a tapered optical fiber;
The waveguide is formed of silicon or silicon nitride;
The microresonator is a whispering gallery mode microresonator;
The microresonator has a non-circular shape;
The microresonator has a circular shape;
The microresonator has a disk shape or a ring shape;
The microresonator is formed of at least one of silicon, silicon nitride, potassium fluoride, silica, and plastic;
The optical frequency comb generator according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the microresonator has at least one aspect of being doped with a nonlinear material exhibiting third-order nonlinearity.   23. The optical frequency comb generator of claim 22, wherein the microresonator is formed of silicon on an insulator wafer material. Generating an input laser beam having a predetermined input optical frequency using a laser device;
Coupling the input laser light through a waveguide to a dielectric microresonator having a cavity exhibiting third-order nonlinearity;
Providing light generated parametrically in the microresonator by optical parametric generation;
Coupling the parametrically generated light outside the microresonator; and
In the applying step, the laser input light has a predetermined frequency field in the cavity having a frequency sideband frequency of the input light frequency and a frequency sideband frequency of the input light frequency sideband. A method of generating an optical frequency comb coupled to a mode of this microresonator at a minimum power level so as to exceed a threshold for cascaded parametric oscillation in said parametrically generated light.   The light field in the cavity exceeds a threshold for the parametrically generated light of a predetermined cascade parametric oscillation having a frequency of at least 10 frequency sidebands relative to the input optical frequency. Item 24. The method according to Item 24.   26. The method of claim 24 or 25, comprising the step of correcting the dispersion of the microresonator.   27. A method according to any one of claims 24 to 26, comprising detecting the parametrically generated light using a detection device.   Repetitive frequency detection using a feedback loop coupled to a detection device arranged to control at least one inherent characteristic of the laser device, the waveguide, and the microresonator 28. The method of claim 27, further comprising the step of stabilizing.   At least one of the temperature of the microresonator, the strain of the microresonator, the pump power of the input laser device, the laser frequency of the input laser device, and the distance between the waveguide and the microresonator. 29. The method of claim 28, comprising the step of controlling one.   30. A method according to any one of claims 24 to 29, comprising the step of generating an optical pulse using a repetition frequency given by an integer multiple of the free spectral range of the microresonator.   31. A method according to any one of claims 24 to 30 wherein the input laser light is coupled to the microresonator such that the microresonator includes light having an intensity greater than 1 gigawatt per square centimeter.

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