Enhanced frequency-modulated continuous-wave generation by injection-locking period-one oscillation in a semiconductor laser with an intensity modulated comb

Abstract

We report on an enhanced photonic generation of frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) signals by injection-locking a semiconductor laser operating in period-one (P1) nonlinear dynamic with an intensity modulated electro-optic frequency comb. When the cavity mode is injection-locked with respect to any of the comb modes, through linearly sweeping the frequency of the injected comb mode while synchronously modulating the injected intensity, the center wavelength of the cavity mode can be tuned following the injected comb mode. This way, it allows maintaining the phase-locking between the cavity mode and comb mode even if beyond the original locking bandwidth of the cavity mode, since it is tuned accordingly. It thus leads to the generation of FMCW signal with efficient phase noise suppression and improved achievable sweep range compared with the limited original injection-locking bandwidth. Such injection enhanced phase-locking is investigated and a demonstration with the injection of −4th order comb mode has realized photonic FMCW generation with enhanced sweep range and suppressed phase noise. Thanks to the flexibility in sweep parameters, this method can also be readily applied for the generation of arbitrary waveforms.