Direct On-Chip Digital Optical Synthesis (DODOS)
Abstract
The development of techniques for precise frequency control of RF and microwave radiation in the 1940s revolutionized modern warfare. Frequency control is the enabling technology for radar, satellite and terrestrial communications, and position-sensing and navigation technology, among many other core DoD capabilities. To date, however, optical frequency synthesis has been limited to laboratory environments due to the large size, relative fragility, and high cost of optical comb-based synthesizers. Recent developments on the DARPA Quantum Assisted Sensing and Readout (QuASAR) and in Ultrafast Laser Science and Engineering (PULSE) programs have demonstrated the possibility of generating self-referenced combs in microscale resonators. Combined with technology and fabrication techniques developed in the Photonically Optimized Embedded Microprocessor (POEM) and Diverse & Accessible Heterogeneous Integration (DAHI) programs, it is now possible to develop a chip-scale integrated optical frequency synthesizer. Ubiquitous low-cost robust optical frequency synthesis is expected to create a similar disruptive capability in optical technology as microwave frequency synthesis did in the 1940s, enabling high-bandwidth coherent optical communications, coherent synthesized-aperture LiDAR, portable high-accuracy atomic clocks, high-resolution standoff gas/toxin detection, and intrusion detection, among other applications. The Direct On-chip Digital Optical Synthesis (DODOS) program will create a microscale, high-accuracy optical frequency synthesizer, in a compact, robust package, suitable for deployment in a wide variety of mission-critical DoD applications.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Accomplishment
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2015
- Source ID
- 62380d3f4553e42d139d99cdafcc7376