Terahertz Voltage-controlled Oscillator from a Kerr-Induced Synchronized Soliton Microcomb

Abstract: The generation of controlled and arbitrarily tunable terahertz radiation, essential for many applications, has proven challenging due to the complexity of experimental setups and fabrication techniques. We introduce a new strategy involving control over a terahertz repetition rate integrated frequency comb, using Kerr-induced synchronization, that results in a terahertz-voltage-controlled oscillator. By modulating the reference laser, we can transfer any microwave waveform onto the microcomb repetition rate via a linear transfer function based on optical frequency division. The resulting frequency comb with a terahertz carrier can be created using integrated components, with a bandwidth constrained only by the synchronization bandwidth and high coherence resulting from the low-noise soliton microcomb in the Kerr-induced synchronized state.