A stabilized 18 GHz chip-scale optical frequency comb at 2.8x10-16 relative inaccuracy

Abstract: Optical frequency combs, coherent light sources that connect optical frequencies with microwave oscillations, have become the enabling tool for precision spectroscopy, optical clockwork and attosecond physics over the past decades. Current benchmark systems are self-referenced femtosecond mode-locked lasers, but four-wave-mixing in high-Q resonators have emerged as alternative platforms. Here we report the generation and full stabilization of CMOS-compatible optical frequency combs. The spiral microcomb's two degrees-of-freedom, one of the comb line and the native 18 GHz comb spacing, are first simultaneously phase-locked to known optical and microwave references. Second, with pump power control, active comb spacing stabilization improves the long-term stability by six orders-of-magnitude, reaching an instrument-limited 3.6 mHz/sqrt(t) residual instability. Third, referencing thirty-three of the nitride frequency comb lines against a fiber comb, we demonstrate the comb tooth-to-tooth frequency relative inaccuracy down to 53 mHz and 2.8x10-16, heralding unprecedented chip-scale applications in precision spectroscopy, coherent communications, and astronomical spectrography.