Integrated femtosecond laser based frequency comb and photonic microwave oscillator

Introduction

In femto-iCOMB, we develop the first integrated femtosecond laser-based frequency comb that can serve as the basis for a wide variety of optical and Radio-Frequency (RF) technologies ranging from high resolution environmental and health sensing to LIDAR and RADAR.

Background

Femto-iCOMB is based on the successful EIC-pathfinder project FEMTOCHIP, where we demonstrate an integrated high power femtosecond laser enabling extremely low jitter on chip scale.

Technical Development

Here, we tame the free running comb from the integrated femtosecond laser with:

• On-chip continuum generation
• Carrier-envelope and repetition rate locking to an optical reference

This process transforms it into a fully stabilized femtosecond laser frequency comb (FSLFC) with extremely high frequency stability.

Applications

We use the femto-iCOMB to pursue photonic microwave oscillators for a variety of applications, including:

1. Autonomous driving
2. Ultra-low phase noise oscillators for advanced signal generators
3. RF-test and measurement equipment

We demonstrate these devices in relevant industrial environments for each application.

Validation and Business Case

These prototype field tests will validate the TRL levels achieved for each application. Together with surveys of potential customers, they will inform the business case to be made for each potential product line.