Coherent optical communications using coherence-cloned Kerr soliton microcombs

Area of Science:

• Photonics
• Optical Communications
• Laser Physics

Background:

• Dissipative Kerr soliton microcombs offer stable multi-wavelength laser sources for fiber optics.
• Regenerating microcombs as receiver local oscillators is key for advanced coherent optical communications.
• Current methods require complex optical and electrical compensations for coherent detection.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate the regeneration of a Dissipative Kerr soliton microcomb that preserves frequency and phase.
• To enable simplified coherent detection in optical communications by using cloned microcombs.
• To showcase a terabit data interconnect utilizing regenerated microcombs.

Main Methods:

• Utilized pump laser conveying and two-point locking techniques for microcomb regeneration.
• Transmitted and regenerated a Kerr soliton microcomb over a 50 km distance.
• Employed coherence-cloned soliton microcombs as carriers and local oscillators for data transmission.

Main Results:

• Successfully regenerated a microcomb, faithfully cloning the frequency and phase of the original.
• Demonstrated a terabit coherent data interconnect without traditional digital frequency offset estimation.
• Achieved simplified carrier phase estimation through joint multi-channel and slowed-down rate estimation.

Conclusions:

• Regenerated Kerr soliton microcombs can serve as receiver local oscillators, simplifying coherent detection.
• Controlling microcomb frequency and phase between transmitters and receivers significantly enhances optical communication performance.
• This approach offers improvements in performance, power consumption, and simplicity for optical communication systems.