News
Supercontinuum generation in integrated GaN waveguides
20 August 2024
Supercontinuum in integrated GaN waveguides is demonstrated for the first time. We observe gap-free spectra spanning more than two octaves and extending into the mid-infrared to wavelengths approaching 4 µm. The waveguides are pumped by a robust off-the-shelf erbium-based femtosecond laser with sub-nJ pulse energies and also allow f-2f self-referencing for precision spectroscopy.
Self-injection-locked microcombs via synthetic reflection
15 January 2024
Self-injection locking to a photonic crystal ring-microresonator with synthetic reflection is demonstrated for the first time. The chip-integrated system does not rely on random imperfection-based backscattering and permits deterministic generation of single-soliton microcombs.
Sideband injection locking in microresonator frequency combs
12 December 2023
For many applications of microresonator frequency combs, the ability to control the comb's defining parameters is essential. Sideband-injection locking, a technique by which a secondary continuous-wave laser is injected into the microresonator, provides an elegant solution, enabling straightforward control of both the carrier-envelope offset frequency and repetition rate.
Femtosecond pulse amplification on a chip
08 November 2023
We recently demonstrated a 50x amplification of femtosecond pulses entirely on chip based Thulium as a gain medium. The achieved on-chip peak power levels exceed 800 W at pulse durations of 116fs.
Best student poster award EOSAM 2023
15 September 2023
Thibault Wildi won the best student poster award at EOSAM 2023 conference in Dijon, France. Congratulations!
Ultraviolet frequency combs for precision cosmology
23 June 2023
Laser Frequency combs at high repetition rates (> 10 GHz) are ideally suited to calibrate astronomical spectrographs, supporting precise and accurate spectroscopy of astronomical objects. Leveraging periodically-poled lithium niobate nanophotonic waveguides we demonstrate for the first time the calibration of an astronomical spectrograph with a laser frequency comb at blue and ultraviolet wavelengths, relevant to optical precision cosmology.
pyChi - Simulating supercontinua from mixed and cascaded nonlinearities
28 March 2023
Optical frequency conversion by quadratic and cubic nonlinearities permits the synthesis of broadband multi-octave spanning spectra (supercontinua). We have developed an efficient approach for simulating simultaneous quadratic and cubic nonlinear effects, as well as cascading effects. An open source implementation is freely available (pyChi).
FEMTOCHIP project video
15 December 2022
FEMTOCHIP project partners explain their ambition for the development of integrated femtosecond laser technology.
Ultrashort soliton pulses from a chip-integrated Fabry-Perot microresonator
23 May 2023
Chip-integrated photonic-crystal Fabry-Perot microresonators produce for the first time ultrashort soliton pulses. This new approach permits unprecedented design freedom and creates opportunities for high-repetition rate pulse sources in previously inaccessible wavelengths regimes.
Dual combs for fast and broadband spectroscopy
15 March 2022
Dual-combs with high 1 GHz pulse-repetition rate permit fast optical spectroscopy (here up to 200'000 spectra per second) over a wide spectral span. Potential applications include observing fast chemcial or biological processes in real-time as well as high-throughput screening.
AI-enabled realtime dual-comb molecular fingerprint imaging
03 December 2020
Dual-laser frequency combs and artificial intelligence enable hyperspectral imaging of molecular absorption signatures in realtime. This novel technique may open new opportunities for environmental monitoring, process control and bio-imaging.
Photo-acosutic dual-comb spectroscopy
20 August 2020
Dual-optical frequency combs interact with molecules to produce a characteristic acoustic fingerprint signal. This novel technique of dual-frequency comb photo-acoustic spectroscopy can overcome the challenges of mid-infrared light detection and be used for sensitive, rapid and broadband sensing of molecular species, even in microscopic samples.
Visible blue-to-red 10 GHz frequency comb
28 October 2019
A broadband 10 GHz frequency comb in the visible wavelength range is generated via triple-sum frequency mixing of a near-infrared electro-optic source. This approach provides a novel pathway to astronomical frequency combs in the visible domain.
Nonlinear optical filtering reduces timing jitter of laser pulses
24 October 2019
Nonlinear optical Kerr-cavity soliton dynamics can significantly improve the noise suppression and filter characteristics of a high-Q cavity by keeping information about the intracavity waveform longer than the cavity’s energy storage time. This surprising effect creates new opportunities for microresonator frequency combs and microwave photonics.