Time and frequency method and system for optical comb

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11664635-B2
Application number	US-202017113041-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 5, 2020
Priority date	Dec 6, 2019
Publication date	May 30, 2023
Grant date	May 30, 2023

Abstract

Provided are a time and frequency control method and system for optical comb. The method includes: controlling an optical comb measuring system to start and to generate an optical comb; obtaining monitoring data, wherein the monitoring data comprises a working temperature, a mode-locked frequency and a light pump power, wherein the mode-locked frequency comprises a repetition frequency and a carrier envelope phase locked at the end of starting the optical comb measuring system; determining whether an offset of the mode-locked frequency exceeds a self-feedback adjustment range of a hardware adjustment circuit; and in response to any of the repetition frequency and the carrier envelope phase exceeds the self-feedback adjustment range, adjusting the working temperature and the light pump power until the mode-locked frequency returns back into the self-feedback adjustment range.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A time and frequency control method for optical comb, comprising:
controlling an optical comb measuring system to start and to generate an optical comb;
obtaining monitoring data, wherein the monitoring data comprises a working temperature, a mode-locked frequency and a light pump power, wherein the mode-locked frequency comprises a repetition frequency and a carrier envelope phase locked at the end of starting the optical comb measuring system;
determining whether an offset of the mode-locked frequency exceeds a self-feedback adjustment range of a hardware adjustment circuit; and
in response to any of the repetition frequency and the carrier envelope phase exceeds the self-feedback adjustment range, adjusting the working temperature and the light pump power until the mode-locked frequency returns back into the self-feedback adjustment range,
wherein controlling the optical comb measuring system to start and to generate the optical comb comprises:
stabilizing the working temperature to a preset temperature;
raising the light pump power until the repetition frequency and the carrier envelope phase occur and the optical comb is mode locked;
lowering the light pump power until the optical comb is out of lock; and
alternating the raising and the lowering with gradually reduced light pump power scan range, so that the mode locking and the out-of-lock occur alternately, to obtain a minimum light pump power enabling the mode locking, and lock the repetition frequency and the carrier envelope phase corresponding to the minimum light pump power.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the working temperature is adjusted in response to the offset of the repetition frequency exceeds the self-feedback adjustment range; and
the working temperature or the light pump power is adjusted in response to the offset of the carrier envelope phase exceeds the self-feedback adjustment range.

3. A time and frequency control system for optical comb, comprising:
an optical comb measuring system, configured to generate an optical comb;
an upper computer, configured to:
control the optical comb measuring system to start and to generate the optical comb;
obtain monitoring data, wherein the monitoring data comprises a working temperature, a mode-locked frequency and a light pump power, wherein the mode-locked frequency comprises a repetition frequency and a carrier envelope phase locked at the end of starting the optical comb measuring system;
determine whether an offset of the mode-locked frequency exceeds a self-feedback adjustment range of a hardware adjustment circuit; and
in response to any of the repetition frequency and the carrier envelope phase exceeds the self-feedback adjustment range, adjust the working temperature and the light pump power until the mode-locked frequency returns back into the self-feedback adjustment range; and

a control chip, coupled to the upper computer, wherein the control chip is configured to be connected to lower circuits, and is provided with a parallel communication system.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the parallel communication system comprises:
superior modules, comprising a serial transceiver module configured to be coupled to the upper computer;
lower modules, comprising a data cache module and an interface module configured to be connected to the lower circuits; and
an interrupt polling module, provided with an instruction cache module and a working signal monitoring module, wherein the instruction cache module is configured to store working instructions from the superior modules into the data cache module, the working signal monitoring module is configured to store refreshed working data of the lower circuits into the data cache module via the interface module;
wherein the superior modules are configured to perform bidirectional parallel communication with the lower modules via the interrupt polling module.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the superior modules further comprise:
an auto-start module, configured to receive an auto-start request from the optical comb measuring system, and to control the optical comb measuring system to start automatically;
a time counting module, configured to record a working time of the lower module; and
an error alert module, configured to monitor a working state of the lower module, and to issue a warning in response to an abnormality.

6. The system of claim 4 , wherein the interrupt polling modules is configured to parse the working instructions stored in the data cache module based on priorities of the superior modules;
wherein the data cache module is configured to store the working data based on priorities of the lower modules; and
wherein the serial transceiver module has the highest priority.

7. The system of claim 4 , wherein a protocol frame used in the bidirectional parallel communication comprises a transmission frame header, a source address, a data length, a first classification number, a second classification number and transmission data from beginning to end, in which:
the transmission frame header is configured for determining a starting location of the protocol frame and whether the protocol frame is valid;
the source address is one of addresses of the superior modules, each of the superior modules has a unique address;
the data length is configured for indicating a length of following data;
the first classification number is configured to distinguish a read operation and a write operation, the write operation comprises driving the lower modules to work via the interface module and storing the working data into the data cache module, the read operation comprises reading the working data or working instructions from the data cache module;
the second classification number is configured to distinguish respective lower modules, each of the lower modules has a unique classification number; and
the transmission data comprises content of the working instruction or content of the working data.

8. The system of claim 3 , wherein the control chip is implemented with FPGA or CPLD, and the upper computer is provided with an operation interface for human-machine interaction.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the operation interface comprises a light pump control panel, a temperature control panel, a locking signal monitoring panel and an optical comb parameter setting panel.

10. The system of claim 3 , wherein the lower circuits comprise a temperature monitoring circuit, a temperature control circuit, a light pump monitoring circuit, a light pump control circuit, a phase lock circuit, and a frequency monitoring circuit, and the interface module comprises an underlying drive module connected to the lower circuits respectively.

Assignees

• Chongqing Institute Of East China Normal Univ
• Roi Optoelectronics Tech Co Ltd
• Univ East China Normal

Inventors

• Zeng Heping
• Wu Xiuqi
• Li Shuang
• Shen Xuling

Classifications

• H01S3/1305

  Feedback control systems · CPC title

• H01S3/1312 Primary

  by controlling the optical pumping · CPC title

• H01S3/1317

  by controlling the temperature · CPC title

• H01S3/1106 Primary

  Mode locking · CPC title

• H01S3/10046

  Pulse repetition rate control (H01S3/11 takes precedence) · CPC title