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  • Review Article
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Integrated optical frequency comb technologies

Nature Photonics volume 16, pages 95–108 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Optical frequency combs offer an unrivalled degree of frequency measurement precision that underpins the advance of modern technology in both fundamental science and commercial contexts. Recent progress in integrated photonics provides an attractive route to realize optical frequency comb sources in a compact, low-cost and energy-efficient manner by leveraging tightly-confined waveguide platforms and wafer-scale mass-manufacturing in photonic foundries, potentially revolutionizing the fields of information processing, time–frequency metrology and sensing. In this Review Article, we comprehensively examine the strategies for optical frequency comb generation in integrated photonics and provide detailed appraisals of those strategies in the context of prospective applications. The progress of high-level integration of optical frequency combs in photonic integrated circuits is summarized and a roadmap is proposed for transferring advanced optical frequency comb systems from the laboratory to the wider world.

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Fig. 1: Timeline of the evolution of integrated OFC technologies.
Fig. 2: Integrated SMLL technologies.
Fig. 3: Integrated nonlinear OFC technologies.
Fig. 4: Current status of key metrics and properties of integrated OFC technologies.
Fig. 5: Current status of OFC integration in PICs.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to G. Keeler, T. Kippenberg, K. Vahala, S. Papp, K. Srinivasan, D. Liang, A. Boes, W. W. Chow, T. Morin and X. Zhang for discussions and assistance. We would also like to thank many colleagues with whom we have learned about the field of optical frequency combs. We acknowledge support from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) under the DODOS (HR0011-15-C-055) and LUMOS (HR001-20-2-0044) programs.

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  1. Songtao Liu

    Present address: Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA, USA

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  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

    Lin Chang, Songtao Liu & John E. Bowers

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J.E.B. is a shareholder in two silicon photonics companies, Quintessent and Nexus Photonics. The remaining authors declare no competing interests.

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Chang, L., Liu, S. & Bowers, J.E. Integrated optical frequency comb technologies. Nat. Photon. 16, 95–108 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-021-00945-1

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