Linewidth of the harmonics in a microwave frequency comb generated by focusing a mode-locked ultrafast laser on a tunneling junction
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112 (United States)
- School of Computing, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112 (United States)
- Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, Materials Physics and Applications Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 (United States)
Previous analyses suggest that microwave frequency combs (MFCs) with harmonics having extremely narrow linewidths could be produced by photodetection with a mode-locked ultrafast laser. In the MFC generated by focusing a passively mode-locked ultrafast laser on a tunneling junction, 200 harmonics from 74.254 MHz to 14.85 GHz have reproducible measured linewidths approximating the 1 Hz resolution bandwidth (RBW) of the spectrum analyzer. However, in new measurements at a RBW of 0.1 Hz, the linewidths are distributed from 0.12 to 1.17 Hz. Measurements and analysis suggest that, because the laser is not stabilized, the stochastic drift in the pulse repetition rate is the cause for the distribution in measured linewidths. It appears that there are three cases in which the RBW is (1) greater than, (2) less than, or (3) comparable with the intrinsic linewidth. The measured spectra in the third class are stochastic and may show two or more peaks at a single harmonic.
- OSTI ID:
- 22266133
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 114, Issue 22; Other Information: (c) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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