Reconfigurable multi-tone mmWave/THz generation powered by high-efficiency Kerr parametric oscillation

Abstract

Broadband and simultaneously accessible multi-tone millimeter-wave (mmWave) and terahertz (THz) signals are attractive for multi-band wireless communication and spectroscopy applications, yet their generation remains constrained by electronic bandwidth limitations and inefficient optical frequency conversion. Here, we demonstrate reconfigurable photonic generation of multi-tone mmWave/THz signals with comb spacings of 100, 200, 300, and 400 GHz, using a strongly asymmetric dual-ring silicon-nitride (SiN) microresonator and a broadband spiral plasmonic photomixer. A localized avoided-mode crossing (AMX) introduced by an auxiliary ring supports a fixed optical parametric oscillation (OPO) mode pair over an extended pump-detuning range, consistent with passive compensation of detuning-dependent phase mismatch. This enables a maximum pump-to-generated-line conversion efficiency of 67.3 % with 25.06 dB of pump depletion across different pump wavelength selections. Direct photomixing of these optical states produces simultaneous multi-frequency tones spanning 100 to 900 GHz without intermediate optical amplification. The generated carriers are further characterized through down-converted spectra, frequency-noise power spectral density (PSD), and Allan deviation measurements, yielding a \b{eta}-separation linewidth of 26 kHz at an observation time of 0.1 s. Optical modulation offers high radiated power levels exceeding 2 mW at 100 GHz at a duty cycle of 1 %, while mitigating thermal breakdown in the photomixer. High optical conversion efficiency, reconfigurable and selectable comb spacings, and broadband multi-tone generation on a chip-scale platform provide a compact route toward reconfigurable multi-band mmWave/THz sources for wireless communication, spectroscopy, and sensing.

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Cite

BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@misc{lee2026reconfigurable,
  title = {{Reconfigurable multi-tone mmWave/THz generation powered by high-efficiency Kerr parametric oscillation}},
  author = {Dong IL Lee and Fanqi Shen and Wenzheng Liu and Xinghe Jiang and Anika Tabassum and Alwaleed Aldhafeeri and Manas Choure and Jasmine Lu and Mona Jarrahi and Chee Wei Wong},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = nov,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2611.03997},
  eprint = {2611.03997},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.03997},
}

RIS

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Reconfigurable multi-tone mmWave/THz generation powered by high-efficiency Kerr parametric oscillation
AU  - Dong IL Lee
AU  - Fanqi Shen
AU  - Wenzheng Liu
AU  - Xinghe Jiang
AU  - Anika Tabassum
AU  - Alwaleed Aldhafeeri
AU  - Manas Choure
AU  - Jasmine Lu
AU  - Mona Jarrahi
AU  - Chee Wei Wong
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/11/02
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2611.03997
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.03997
AB  - Broadband and simultaneously accessible multi-tone millimeter-wave (mmWave) and terahertz (THz) signals are attractive for multi-band wireless communication and spectroscopy applications, yet their generation remains constrained by electronic bandwidth limitations and inefficient optical frequency conversion. Here, we demonstrate reconfigurable photonic generation of multi-tone mmWave/THz signals with comb spacings of 100, 200, 300, and 400 GHz, using a strongly asymmetric dual-ring silicon-nitride (SiN) microresonator and a broadband spiral plasmonic photomixer. A localized avoided-mode crossing (AMX) introduced by an auxiliary ring supports a fixed optical parametric oscillation (OPO) mode pair over an extended pump-detuning range, consistent with passive compensation of detuning-dependent phase mismatch. This enables a maximum pump-to-generated-line conversion efficiency of 67.3 % with 25.06 dB of pump depletion across different pump wavelength selections. Direct photomixing of these optical states produces simultaneous multi-frequency tones spanning 100 to 900 GHz without intermediate optical amplification. The generated carriers are further characterized through down-converted spectra, frequency-noise power spectral density (PSD), and Allan deviation measurements, yielding a \b{eta}-separation linewidth of 26 kHz at an observation time of 0.1 s. Optical modulation offers high radiated power levels exceeding 2 mW at 100 GHz at a duty cycle of 1 %, while mitigating thermal breakdown in the photomixer. High optical conversion efficiency, reconfigurable and selectable comb spacings, and broadband multi-tone generation on a chip-scale platform provide a compact route toward reconfigurable multi-band mmWave/THz sources for wireless communication, spectroscopy, and sensing.
ER  -

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