Dual Laser Self-Injection Locking to a Micro Fabry-Perot for Low Phase Noise Millimeter-wave Generation

Abstract

Low-noise and accessible millimeter-wave sources are critical for emergent telecommunications, radar and sensing applications. Current limitations to realizing low-noise, deployable millimeter-wave systems include size, weight, and power (SWaP) requirements, along with complex operating principles. In this paper we provide a compact photonic implementation for generating low phase noise millimeter-waves, which significantly simplifies the architecture and reduces the volume compared to alternative approaches. Two commercial diode lasers are self-injection-locked to a micro-Fabry-Perot cavity, and their heterodyne provides low phase noise millimeter waves reaching -148 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset on a 111.45 GHz carrier. Phase noise characterization at such levels and frequencies poses unique challenges, and we further highlight the capabilities of optically-based measurement techniques. Our approach to millimeter-wave generation can leverage advances in photonic integration for further miniaturization and packaging, thus providing a unique source of accessible, compact, and low-noise millimeter waves.