The trick that could put an optical clock on a chip

[...]in 2007, researchers succeeded in generating an optical frequency comb on a chip, by confining light to a circular structure called a microresonator6. The comb enables the translation of this highly precise frequency into a microwave frequency that is suitable for transmitting timing informatio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNature (London) Vol. 624; no. 7991; pp. 256 - 257
Main Authors Tan, Mengxi, Moss, David J
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Nature Publishing Group 14.12.2023
Subjects
Accuracy
Clocks & watches
Laboratories
Laboratory equipment
Lasers
Microwave frequencies
Optical frequency
Photonics
Synchronism
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Summary:[...]in 2007, researchers succeeded in generating an optical frequency comb on a chip, by confining light to a circular structure called a microresonator6. The comb enables the translation of this highly precise frequency into a microwave frequency that is suitable for transmitting timing information electronically. [...]although microcombs themselves have undergone tremendous improvements, from increased spectral stability10 to self-initiated operation11, the challenges of tuning and locking them to the reference laser frequency have persisted. The authors' innovation was to inject the reference laser directly into the microresonator itself, thus automatically synchronizing the laser with the frequency comb (Fig. 1b).
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/d41586-023-03782-0