Programmable RF-to-optical frequency synthesis with fully stabilized dual-microcomb

Programmable RF-to-optical frequency synthesis with fully stabilized dual-microcomb | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Programmable RF-to-optical frequency synthesis with fully stabilized dual-microcomb Saleha Fatema*, Kaiyi Wu*, Nathan P. O’Malley, Cong Wang, Marcello Girardi, and 4 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7905662/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Phase-coherent radio-frequency (RF)-to-optical links provide highly frequency-stable optical signals, critical for ultrafast and high-precision metrology. Optical frequency combs generated from mode-locked lasers can achieve this with exceptional accuracy, but face limitations in size, power consumption, and scalability. Microcombs generated from an integrated photonic chip offer a compact, mass-manufacturable alternative with the advantage of achieving the octave-spanning bandwidth, essential for self-referencing. Yet, this is accompanied by comb line spacing outside the bandwidth of conventional electronics. Here, we utilize two ∼1THz microcombs in a Vernier configuration to stabilize their optical frequencies to a common RF reference, establishing a phase-coherent RF-to-optical link for programmable optical frequency synthesis. Importantly, the divided repetition rates extracted from the Vernier scheme enable electronic control and reconfigurability of the comb grid through electro-optic modulation. We demonstrate reduced comb grids of ∼ 10 GHz, facilitating static laser frequency calibration with kHz-resolution and dynamic-tracking. The fully stabilized, octave-spanning dual-comb system can be widely used in applications requiring stable optical frequency sources and high-precision metrology. *Saleha Fatema & Kaiyi Wu contributed equally to this work. Physical sciences/Optics and photonics/Other photonics/Frequency combs Physical sciences/Optics and photonics/Other photonics/Optical metrology Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files RFtoopticalsupplementary.pdf Supplementary information Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7905662","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":541072846,"identity":"4590b964-d2a6-4403-94c6-169c4b83916d","order_by":0,"name":"Saleha Fatema*","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5007-8354","institution":"School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, 47907, IN, USA","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Saleha","middleName":"","lastName":"Fatema*","suffix":""},{"id":541072845,"identity":"5e2d285e-b073-4f7f-8e1b-b3f3a60f4b4d","order_by":1,"name":"Kaiyi Wu*","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAwklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFACxsbHfwxsQCwDMLeBsBbmZgOegjSStLC3SfB8OEyCFoMbic0GEgbn8wxuH94m8YHBRnbDAcJaGh8YGNwuNjiXViY5gyHNmKAWM5AtCQa3Ezec4TGT5mE4nEiMljaJAwbnIFr+MPwnTotkg8EBiBYGhgOEtdifedhszGCQXCx5hq3Ysscg2XgmIS2S7ekPHzP8scvjO8O88caPCjvZPkJaYCABQhkQqRxJyygYBaNgFIwCLAAAl39ILCnVCiQAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7141-7389","institution":"School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, 47907, IN, USA; Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-41296, Sweden","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Kaiyi","middleName":"","lastName":"Wu*","suffix":""},{"id":541072847,"identity":"a46c448b-4840-4547-94fa-4737e83df995","order_by":2,"name":"Nathan P. 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