Tunable optical dual-comb experiments using silicon Mach- Zehnder modulators

Lucas Deniel (1) , Erwan Weckenmann (2) , Diego Pérez Galacho (3) , Laurent Bramerie (2) , Carlos Alonso-Ramos (1) , Fréderic Boeuf (4) , Laurent Vivien (1) , Christophe Peucheret (2) , Delphine Marris-Morini (1)

1 C2N - Centre de Nanosciences et de Nanotechnologies
2 FOTON - Institut des Fonctions Optiques pour les Technologies de l'informatiON
3 UPV - Universitat Politècnica de València = Universitad Politecnica de Valencia = Polytechnic University of Valencia
4 ST-CROLLES - STMicroelectronics [Crolles]

Dual comb spectroscopy is a technique that simultaneously enables high signal-to-noise ratio and quasi-instantaneous measurements of optical spectra. It requires the generation of two mutually coherent optical frequency combs, and electro-optical modulation of a monochromatic carrier can be used for this purpose. By tuning the applied modulation frequency, it is possible to control the spacing between the lines of the electro-optical frequency combs (EOFCs), and by changing the input carrier frequency, it is possible to control the EOFCs absolute frequencies. On-chip EOFC generators are highly desirable to develop low-cost and low-weight dual-comb systems. In this context, silicon photonics is a promising technology, as it benefits from CMOS compatible fabrication process. In this work, a demonstration of dual-comb generation is performed, using two silicon Mach-Zehnder modulators. The tunablity of the obtained 5 main beat notes was studied for an input wavelength ranging from 1530 nm to 1570 nm, and for a driving modulation frequency between 1 GHz and 12 GHz.

Mots clés: Dual-Comb; Silicon; Electro-optic; Modulators; Tunable

Domaines: Optique [physics.optics]

Lucas Deniel, Erwan Weckenmann, Diego Pérez Galacho, Laurent Bramerie, Carlos Alonso-Ramos, et al.. Tunable optical dual-comb experiments using silicon Mach- Zehnder modulators. 22nd European Conference on Integrated Optics (ECIO 2020), Jun 2020, Paris, France. ⟨hal-02946620⟩