Chip-based f-2f interferometry in periodically tapered lithium niobate nanophotonic waveguides

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a chip-based f-2f interferometry technique using periodically tapered lithium niobate nanophotonic waveguides, enabling robust, low-power, and temperature-tolerant frequency comb detection.

Contribution

Introduction of a novel periodically-tapered waveguide design that broadens spectral overlap for efficient f-2f interferometry on a chip.

Findings

Achieved broad spectral overlap between SHG and dispersive waves.

Enabled detection of fceo at lower pulse energies than uniform waveguides.

Developed a temperature-tolerant waveguide module compatible with high-repetition-rate lasers.

Abstract

Nanophotonic supercontinuum generation offers a practical route to chip-based f-2f interferometry by leveraging coexisting chi(2) and chi(3) nonlinearities. In conventional uniform waveguides, the phase-matching bandwidth for second-harmonic generation (SHG) is intrinsically narrow, restricting the spectral overlap factor for heterodyne beating. To address this limitation, we introduce a periodically-tapered nanophotonic waveguide made from MgO-doped, z-cut thin-film lithium niobate for energy-efficient and fabrication-robust f-2f operation. By adiabatically varying the waveguide width within a dual phase-matching window that supports concurrent dispersive wave (DW) emission and SHG, we routinely achieved a broad spectral overlap between the SHG and DW components. This capability enables robust detection of the carrier-envelope offset frequency (fceo) at substantially lower pulse energies than that in uniform-waveguide approaches. We further developed a compact waveguide module that operates reliably under temperature fluctuations and is capable of interfacing with high-repetition-rate (500 MHz) mode-locked lasers, enabling detection and phase locking of fceo with a signal-to-noise ratio of 48 dB. These results highlight the potential of nanophotonic chips for developing compact, field-deployable frequency comb systems.