Abstract
A technique is presented for narrowing the spectral linewidth of microwave signals generated photonically by heterodyning a pair of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers forming an extended optically coupled cavity. The experimentally demonstrated linewidth reduction, by as much as a factor of —to less than 10 kHz in microwave frequencies up to a couple of gigahertz—is approximately ten times that expected with conventional line-narrowing techniques such as optical feedback. An interpretation is given in terms of mode locking in pairs of optically coupled lasers as a first demonstration in the frequency domain of lag synchronization of coupled oscillators. The results of theoretical modeling agree well with the experimental results.
© 2005 Optical Society of America
Full Article | PDF ArticleMore Like This
Natsuki Fujiwara, Yoshiro Takiguchi, and Junji Ohtsubo
Opt. Lett. 28(18) 1677-1679 (2003)
M. Sciamanna and K. Panajotov
Opt. Lett. 30(21) 2903-2905 (2005)
Yanhua Hong, Min Won Lee, Paul S. Spencer, and K. Alan Shore
Opt. Lett. 29(11) 1215-1217 (2004)