Terahertz Voltage-controlled Oscillator from a Kerr-Induced Synchronized Soliton Microcomb

Abstract

The generation of controlled and arbitrarily tunable terahertz radiation, essential for many applications, has proven challenging due to the complexity of experimental setups and fabrication techniques. We introduce a new strategy involving control over a terahertz repetition rate integrated frequency comb, using Kerr-induced synchronization, that results in a terahertz-voltage-controlled oscillator. By modulating the reference laser, we can transfer any microwave waveform onto the microcomb repetition rate via a linear transfer function based on optical frequency division. The resulting frequency comb with a terahertz carrier can be created using integrated components, with a bandwidth constrained only by the synchronization bandwidth and high coherence resulting from the low-noise soliton microcomb in the Kerr-induced synchronized state.