No Arabic abstract
We studied the injection-locking properties of a resonant-tunneling-diode terahertz oscillator in the small-signal injection regime with a frequency-stabilized continuous THz wave. The linewidth of the emission spectrum dramatically decreased to less than 120 mHz (HWHM) from 4.4 MHz in the free running state as a result of the injection locking. We experimentally determined the amplitude of injection voltage at the antenna caused by the injected THz wave. The locking range was proportional to the injection amplitude and consistent with Adlers model. As increasing the injection amplitude, we observed decrease of the noise component in the power spectrum, which manifests the free-running state, and alternative increase of the injection-locked component. The noise component and the injection-locked component had the same power at the threshold injection amplitude as small as $5times10^{-4}$ of the oscillation amplitude. This threshold behavior can be qualitatively explained by Maffezzonis model of noise reduction in general limit-cycle oscillators.
Dual-comb sources with equally spaced and low phase noise frequency lines are of great importance for high resolution spectroscopy and metrology. In the terahertz frequency range, electrically pumped semiconductor quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) are suitable candidates for frequency comb and dual-comb operation. For a single laser frequency comb, the repetition rate can be locked using a microwave injection locking and the carrier frequency can be locked to a highly stable source. However, for the locking of two laser combs, four frequencies (two repetition rates and two carrier offset frequencies) should be simultaneously locked; If one only refers to the dual-comb signal, two relative frequencies, i.e., the offset frequency and repetition frequency of one laser against those of the other laser, should be locked. Although the locking techniques that have been successfully used for a single laser comb can be, in principle, applied to a dual-comb laser source, the complete locking considerably complicates the implementation of such a system. Here, we propose a method to stabilize a terahertz QCL dual-comb source by phase locking one of the dual-comb lines to a radio frequency (RF) synthesizer. This technique forces one of the lasers to follow the tone of the other one (keeping the sum of the carrier offset frequency difference and repetition frequency difference between the two laser combs as a constant) by exploiting a laser self-detection that avoids the use of an external detector. Through the demonstration of this locking technique, we demonstrate that the dual-comb can generate periodic pulses over a 2 us time scale, showing that the terahertz QCL comb without a control of the repetition rate can produce pulsed-type waveforms.
We present a simple and effective method to implement an active stabilization of a diode laser with injection locking, which requires minimal user intervenes. The injection locked state of the diode laser is probed by a photodetector, of which sensitivity is enhanced by a narrow laser-line filter. Taking advantage of the characteristic response of laser power to spectral modes from the narrow laser-line filter, we demonstrate that high spectral purity and low intensity noise of the diode can be simultaneously maintained by an active feedback to the injected laser. Our method is intrinsically cost-effective, and does not require bulky devices, such as Fabry-Perot interferometers or wavemeters, to actively stabilize the diode laser. Based on successful implementation of this method in our quantum gas experiments, it is conceivable that our active stabilization will greatly simplify potential applications of injection locking of diode lasers in modularized or integrated optical systems.
The synthesis of ultralow-noise microwaves is of both scientific and technological relevance for timing, metrology, communications and radio-astronomy. Today, the lowest reported phase noise signals are obtained via optical frequency-division using mode-locked laser frequency combs. Nonetheless, this technique ideally requires high repetition rates and tight comb stabilisation. Here, a soliton microcomb with a 14 GHz repetition rate is generated with an ultra-stable pump laser and used to derive an ultralow-noise microwave reference signal, with an absolute phase noise level below -60 dBc/Hz at 1 Hz offset frequency and -135 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz. This is achieved using a transfer oscillator approach, where the free-running microcomb noise (which is carefully studied and minimised) is cancelled via a combination of electronic division and mixing. Although this proof-of-principle uses an auxiliary comb for detecting the microcombs offset frequency, we highlight the prospects of this method with future self-referenced integrated microcombs and electro-optic combs, that would allow for ultralow-noise microwave and sub-terahertz signal generators.
We investigate the current-voltage characteristics of a II-VI semiconductor resonant-tunneling diode coupled to a diluted magnetic semiconductor injector. As a result of an external magnetic field, a giant Zeeman splitting develops in the injector, which modifies the band structure of the device, strongly affecting the transport properties. We find a large increase in peak amplitude accompanied by a shift of the resonance to higher voltages with increasing fields. We discuss a model which shows that the effect arises from a combination of three-dimensional incident distribution, giant Zeeman spin splitting and broad resonance linewidth.
We report on the injection locking of an optically levitated nanomechanical oscillator (a silica nanosphere) to resonant intensity modulations of an external optical signal. We explore the characteristic features of injection locking in this system, e.g. the phase pull-in effect and the injection-induced reduction of the oscillation linewidth. Our measurements are in good agreement with theoretical predictions and deepen the analogy of injection locking in levitated optomechanical systems to that in optical systems (lasers). By measuring the force noise of our feedback cooled free-running oscillator, we attain a force sensitivity of $sim23~rm{zN}/sqrt{rm{Hz}}$. This can readily allow, in fairly short integration times, for tests of violations of Newtonian gravity and searching for new small-scale forces. As a proof of concept, we show that the injection locking can be exploited to measure the forces optically induced on levitated nanoparticles, with potential applications in explorations of optical binding and entanglement between optically coupled nanomechanical oscillators.