Attosecond-timing millimeter waves via Kerr optical frequency division

Abstract

Millimeter-wave oscillators underpin key applications in communication, spectroscopy, radar, and astronomy, yet their achievable spectral purity remains limited. Approaches that directly generate millimeter-wave carriers are fundamentally limited by quantum and thermal phase-noise processes. Here we show that these limits can be overcome by combining Kerr-induced optical frequency division in a chip-scale microresonator with a large-spacing dual-wavelength Brillouin laser. This 3.3 THz optical reference injection-locks a Kerr soliton microcomb, with a repetition rate that becomes a coherently divided 300 GHz carrier with phase noise below the quantum limit of a corresponding 300 GHz dual-wavelength Brillouin laser and far below the thermo-refractive noise of a microring resonator. Cross-correlation phase-noise measurements were developed to show that the resulting oscillator reaches a phase-noise floor of -152 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset, consistent with photodetection shot noise. Integration of the measured spectrum yields an RMS timing jitter of 135 as from 1 kHz to 1 MHz. These results establish optical frequency division as a generic method for generation of sub-terahertz carriers with coherence no longer constrained by direct-generation limits.