Articles

Implementation of an Active Control System for Kerr Optical Soliton Frequency Comb Based on FPGA

  • LIU Kangqi ,
  • LI Chenhong ,
  • QU Mingfei ,
  • WANG Pengfei ,
  • ZHAO Feng ,
  • KANG Songbai
Expand
  • 1. Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
    2. Key Laboratory of Atomic Frequency Standards, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
    3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

Received date: 2025-05-19

  Online published: 2025-07-01

Abstract

Due to their millimeter-scale size and low pump power threshold, Kerr optical soliton frequency combs have emerged as a key technology for chip-scale optical atomic clock research. However, the abrupt intracavity power drop during Kerr optical soliton formation leads to cavity frequency drift, which significantly shortens the lifetime of Kerr optical soliton frequency combs. Some active control methods have been reported for long-term stabilization of Kerr solitons, such as soliton power control, Pound-Drever-Hall frequency locking, and auxiliary laser mode. However, the electronic control systems used for these methods are rarely reported. This work presents an active control system for stabilizing Kerr optical soliton frequency combs based on Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). It achieves long-term stable operation of Kerr optical soliton combs in both MgF₂ and CaF₂ microresonators by power control and PDH frequency locking. Furthermore, the system can be extended to other microresonator platforms (e.g., Si₃N₄, AlN, SiO₂) for Kerr optical soliton frequency generation and stabilization.

Cite this article

LIU Kangqi , LI Chenhong , QU Mingfei , WANG Pengfei , ZHAO Feng , KANG Songbai . Implementation of an Active Control System for Kerr Optical Soliton Frequency Comb Based on FPGA[J]. Chinese Journal of Magnetic Resonance, 2026 , 43(1) : 104 -113 . DOI: 10.11938/cjmr20253167

References

[1] NEWMAN Z L, MAURICE V, DRAKE T, et al. Architecture for the photonic integration of an optical atomic clock[J]. Optica, 2019, 6(5): 680-685.
[2] YI X, YANG Q, YANG K L, et al. Active capture and stabilization of temporal solitons in microresonators[J]. Opt Lett, 2016, 41(9): 2037-2040.
[3] 王信宇. 光学微腔中确定性耗散克尔孤子产生的研究[D]. 北京: 中国科学院大学, 2022.
[4] HERR T, BRASCH V, JOST J, et al. Temporal solitons in optical microresonators[J]. Nat Photonics, 2014, 8: 145-152.
[5] CHEMBO Y K, MENYUK C R. Spatiotemporal Lugiato-Lefever formalism for Kerr-comb generation in whispering-gallery-mode resonators[J]. Phys Rev A, 2013, 87(5): 053852.
[6] BOYD R W. Nonlinear Optics[M]. 3rd ed. USA: Academic Press, 2009.
[7] LUCAS E, GUO H, JOST J D, et al. Detuning-dependent properties and dispersion-induced instabilities of temporal dissipative Kerr solitons in optical microresonators[J]. Phys Rev A, 2017, 95(4): 043822.
[8] BRASCH V, GEISELMANN M, PFEIFFER M H P, et al. Bringing short-lived dissipative Kerr soliton states in microresonators into a steady state[J]. Opt Express, 2016, 24(25): 29312-29320.
[9] HERR T, HARTINGER K, RIEMENSBERGER J, et al. Universal formation dynamics and noise of Kerr-frequency combs in microresonators[J]. Nat Photonics, 2012, 6: 480-487.
[10] GODEY C, BALAKIREVA I, COILLET A, et al. Stability analysis of the spatiotemporal Lugiato-Lefever model for Kerr optical frequency combs in the anomalous and normal dispersion regimes[J]. Phys Rev A, 2014, 89(6): 063814.
[11] COEN S, ERKINTALO M. Universal scaling laws of Kerr frequency combs[J]. Opt Lett, 2013, 38(11): 1790-1792.
[12] KOBATAKE T, KATO T, ITOBE H, et al. Thermal effects on Kerr comb generation in a CaF2 whispering-gallery mode microcavity[J]. IEEE Photonics J, 2016, 8(2): 1-9.
[13] DONNELLAN S, HILL I R, BOWDEN W, et al. A scalable arbitrary waveform generator for atomic physics experiments based on field-programmable gate array technology[J]. Rev Sci Instrum, 2019, 90(4): 043101.
[14] LIU Y, LIN L, YUAN B H, et al. Research progress of MRI gradient waveform generator[J]. Chinese J Magn Reson, 2024, 41(1): 99-115.
  刘颖, 林羚, 袁斌华, 等. MRI梯度波形发生器研究进展[J]. 波谱学杂志, 2024, 41(1): 99-115.
[15] SINCLAIR L C, DESCHêNES J D, SONDERHOUSE L, et al. A compact optically coherent fiber frequency comb[J]. Rev Sci Instrum, 2015, 86(8): 081301.
[16] STONE J R. Stable and synchronized: harnessing nonlinear physics to control soliton propagation in microresonators[D]. USA: University of Arkansas, 2020.
[17] QU M, LI C, LIU K, et al. Dynamic process of soliton generation in CaF2 crystalline whispering gallery mode resonators with negative TO effects[J]. Opt Express, 2024, 32(24): 42846-42855.
Outlines

/