Metallomic mapping of gut and brain in heavy metal exposed earthworms: A novel paradigm in ecotoxicology.

This study explored the uptake of lead in the epigeic earthworm Dendrobaena veneta exposed to 0, 1000, and 2500 µg Pb/g soil. The soil metal content was extracted using strong acid digestion and water leaching, and analysed by means of Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) to estimate absolute and bioavailable concentrations of metals in the soil. The guts and heads of lead-exposed earthworms were processed into formalin-fixed and paraffin embedded sections for high-resolution multi-element metallomic imaging via Laser Ablation ICP-MS (LA-ICP-MS). Metallomic maps of phosphorus, zinc, and lead were produced at 15-µm resolution in the head and gut of D. veneta. Additional 4-µm resolution metallomic maps of the earthworm brains were taken, revealing the detailed localisation of metals in the brain. The Pb bioaccumulated in the chloragogenous tissues of the earthworm in a dose-dependent manner, making it possible to track the extent of soil contamination. The bioaccumulation of P and Zn in earthworm tissues was independent of Pb exposure concentration. This approach demonstrates the utility of LA-ICP-MS as a powerful approach for ecotoxicology and environmental risk assessments.

Space-time wave packets with reduced divergence and tunable group velocity generated in free space after multi-mode fiber propagation.

Previously, space-time wave packets (STWPs) have been generated in free space with reduced diffraction and a tunable group velocity by combining multiple frequency comb lines each carrying a single Bessel mode with a unique wave number. It might be potentially desirable to propagate the STWP through fiber for reconfigurable positioning. However, fiber mode coupling might degrade the output STWP and distort its propagation characteristics. In this Letter, we experimentally demonstrate STWP generation and propagation over 1-m graded-index multi-mode fiber. Fiber mode coupling is mitigated by pre-distortion according to the inverse matrix of the fiber mode coupling matrix. Measurement of the STWP at the fiber output shows that its group velocity can vary from 1.0042c to 0.9967c by tuning the wave number of the Bessel mode on each frequency. The measured time-averaged intensity profiles show that the beam radius remains similar after 150-mm free-space propagation after exiting the fiber.

Generation of OAM-carrying space-time wave packets with time-dependent beam radii using a coherent combination of multiple LG modes on multiple frequencies.

Space-time (ST) wave packets, in which spatial and temporal characteristics are coupled, have gained attention due to their unique propagation characteristics, such as propagation invariance and tunable group velocity in addition to their potential ability to carry orbital angular momentum (OAM). Through experiment and simulation, we explore the generation of OAM-carrying ST wave packets, with the unique property of a time-dependent beam radius at various ranges of propagation distances. To achieve this, we synthesize multiple frequency comb lines, each assigned to a coherent combination of multiple Laguerre-Gaussian (LGℓ,p) modes with the same azimuthal index but different radial indices. The time-dependent interference among the spatial modes at the different frequencies leads to the generation of the desired OAM-carrying ST wave packet with dynamically varying radii. The simulation results indicate that the dynamic range of beam radius oscillations increases with the number of modes and frequency lines. The simulated ST wave packet for OAM of orders +1 or +3 has an OAM purity of >95%. In addition, we experimentally generate and measure the OAM-carrying ST wave packets with time-dependent beam radii. In the experiment, several lines of a Kerr frequency comb are spatially modulated with the superposition of multiple LG modes and combined to generate such an ST wave packet. In the experiment, ST wave packets for OAM of orders +1 or +3 have an OAM purity of >64%. In simulation and experiment, OAM purity decreases and beam radius becomes larger over the propagation.

Synthesis of near-diffraction-free orbital-angular-momentum space-time wave packets having a controllable group velocity using a frequency comb.

Novel forms of light beams carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) have recently gained interest, especially due to some of their intriguing propagation features. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the generation of near-diffraction-free two-dimensional (2D) space-time (ST) OAM wave packets (ℓ = +1, +2, or +3) with variable group velocities in free space by coherently combining multiple frequency comb lines, each carrying a unique Bessel mode. Introducing a controllable specific correlation between temporal frequencies and spatial frequencies of these Bessel modes, we experimentally generate and detect near-diffraction-free OAM wave packets with high mode purities (>86%). Moreover, the group velocity can be controlled from 0.9933c to 1.0069c (c is the speed of light in vacuum). These ST OAM wave packets might find applications in imaging, nonlinear optics, and optical communications. In addition, our approach might also provide some insights for generating other interesting ST beams.

Dy3+ single ion magnet in the extended inorganic solid Ca(Y,Dy)AlO4.

The first instance of a rare-earth single-ion magnet in a robust extended solid has been found, which possesses a crystal structure different from apatite. The compound exhibits slow relaxation of magnetization in a zero field revealing simultaneously two energy barriers for magnetization reversal.

Dual chirped microcomb based parallel ranging at megapixel-line rates.

Laser-based ranging (LiDAR) - already ubiquitously used in industrial monitoring, atmospheric dynamics, or geodesy - is a key sensor technology. Coherent laser ranging, in contrast to time-of-flight approaches, is immune to ambient light, operates continuous-wave allowing higher average powers, and yields simultaneous velocity and distance information. State-of-the-art coherent single laser-detector architectures reach hundreds of kilopixel per second sampling rates, while emerging applications - autonomous driving, robotics, and augmented reality - mandate megapixel per second point sampling to support real-time video-rate imaging. Yet, such rates of coherent LiDAR have not been demonstrated. Recent advances in photonic chip-based microcombs provide a route to higher acquisition speeds via parallelization but require separation of individual channels at the detector side, increasing photonic integration complexity. Here we overcome the challenge and report a hardware-efficient swept dual-soliton microcomb technique that achieves coherent ranging and velocimetry at megapixel per second line scan measurement rates with up to 64 optical channels. Multiheterodyning two synchronously frequency-modulated microcombs yields distance and velocity information of all individual ranging channels on a single receiver alleviating the need for individual separation, detection, and digitization. The reported LiDAR implementation is compatible with photonic integration and demonstrates the significant advantages of acquisition speed afforded by the convergence of optical telecommunication and metrology technologies.

Tunability of space-time wave packet carrying tunable and dynamically changing OAM value.

Space-time (ST) wave packets have gained much interest due to their dynamic optical properties. Such wave packets can be generated by synthesizing frequency comb lines, each having multiple complex-weighted spatial modes, to carry dynamically changing orbital angular momentum (OAM) values. Here, we investigate the tunability of such ST wave packets by varying the number of frequency comb lines and the combinations of spatial modes on each frequency. We experimentally generate and measure the wave packets with tunable OAM values from +1 to +6 or from +1 to +4 during a ∼5.2-ps period. We also investigate, in simulation, the temporal pulse width of the ST wave packet and the nonlinear variation of the OAM values. The simulation results show that: (i) a pulse width can be narrower for the ST wave packet carrying dynamically changing OAM values using more frequency lines; and (ii) the nonlinearly varying OAM value can result in different frequency chirps along the azimuthal direction at different time instants.

Ultrafast optical circuit switching for data centers using integrated soliton microcombs.

Due to the slowdown of Moore's law, it will become increasingly challenging to efficiently scale the network in current data centers utilizing electrical packet switches as data rates grow. Optical circuit switches (OCS) represent an appealing option to overcome this issue by eliminating the need for expensive and power-hungry transceivers and electrical switches in the core of the network. In particular, optical switches based on tunable lasers and arrayed waveguide grating routers are quite promising due to the use of a passive core, which increases fault tolerance and reduces management overhead. Such an OCS-network can offer high bandwidth, low network latency and an energy-efficient and scalable data center network. To support dynamic data center workloads efficiently, however, it is critical to switch between wavelengths at nanosecond (ns) timescales. Here we demonstrate ultrafast OCS based on a microcomb and semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs). Using a photonic integrated Si3N4 microcomb, sub-ns (<520 ps) switching along with the 25-Gbps non-return-to-zero (NRZ) and 50-Gbps four-level pulse amplitude modulation (PAM-4) burst mode data transmission is achieved. Further, we use a photonic integrated circuit comprising an Indium phosphide based SOA array and an arrayed waveguide grating to show sub-ns switching (<900 ps) along with 25-Gbps NRZ burst mode transmission providing a path towards a more scalable and energy-efficient wavelength-switched network for data centers in the post Moore's Law era.

Glass-Ceramic Synthesis of Cr-Substituted Strontium Hexaferrite Nanoparticles with Enhanced Coercivity.

Magnetically hard ferrites attract considerable interest due to their ability to maintain a high coercivity of nanosized particles and therefore show promising applications as nanomagnets ranging from magnetic recording to biomedicine. Herein, we report an approach to prepare nonsintered single-domain nanoparticles of chromium-substituted hexaferrite via crystallization of glass in the system SrO-Fe2O3-Cr2O3-B2O3. We have observed a formation of plate-like hexaferrite nanoparticles with diameters changing from 20 to 190 nm depending on the annealing temperature. We demonstrated that chromium substitution led to a significant improvement of the coercivity, which varied from 334 to 732 kA m-1 for the smallest and the largest particles, respectively. The results provide a new strategy for producing high-coercivity ferrite nanomagnets.

Reconfigurable radiofrequency filters based on versatile soliton microcombs.

The rapidly maturing integrated Kerr microcombs show significant potential for microwave photonics. Yet, state-of-the-art microcomb-based radiofrequency filters have required programmable pulse shapers, which inevitably increase the system cost, footprint, and complexity. Here, by leveraging the smooth spectral envelope of single solitons, we demonstrate microcomb-based radiofrequency filters free from any additional pulse shaping. More importantly, we achieve all-optical reconfiguration of the radiofrequency filters by exploiting the intrinsically rich soliton configurations. Specifically, we harness the perfect soliton crystals to multiply the comb spacing thereby dividing the filter passband frequencies. Also, the versatile spectral interference patterns of two solitons enable wide reconfigurability of filter passband frequencies, according to their relative azimuthal angles within the round-trip. The proposed schemes demand neither an interferometric setup nor another pulse shaper for filter reconfiguration, providing a simplified synthesis of widely reconfigurable microcomb-based radiofrequency filters.

Massively parallel coherent laser ranging using a soliton microcomb.

Coherent ranging, also known as frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) laser-based light detection and ranging (lidar)1 is used for long-range three-dimensional distance and velocimetry in autonomous driving2,3. FMCW lidar maps distance to frequency4,5 using frequency-chirped waveforms and simultaneously measures the Doppler shift of the reflected laser light, similar to sonar or radar6,7 and coherent detection prevents interference from sunlight and other lidar systems. However, coherent ranging has a lower acquisition speed and requires precisely chirped8 and highly coherent5 laser sources, hindering widespread use of the lidar system and impeding parallelization, compared to modern time-of-flight ranging systems that use arrays of individual lasers. Here we demonstrate a massively parallel coherent lidar scheme using an ultra-low-loss photonic chip-based soliton microcomb9. By fast chirping of the pump laser in the soliton existence range10 of a microcomb with amplitudes of up to several gigahertz and a sweep rate of up to ten megahertz, a rapid frequency change occurs in the underlying carrier waveform of the soliton pulse stream, but the pulse-to-pulse repetition rate of the soliton pulse stream is retained. As a result, the chirp from a single narrow-linewidth pump laser is transferred to all spectral comb teeth of the soliton at once, thus enabling parallelism in the FMCW lidar. Using this approach we generate 30 distinct channels, demonstrating both parallel distance and velocity measurements at an equivalent rate of three megapixels per second, with the potential to improve sampling rates beyond 150 megapixels per second and to increase the image refresh rate of the FMCW lidar by up to two orders of magnitude without deterioration of eye safety. This approach, when combined with photonic phase arrays11 based on nanophotonic gratings12, provides a technological basis for compact, massively parallel and ultrahigh-frame-rate coherent lidar systems.

Kramers-Kronig detection of four 20 Gbaud 16-QAM channels using Kerr combs for a shared phase estimation.

We experimentally demonstrate Kramers-Kronig detection of four 20 Gbaud 16-quadrature-amplitude-modulated (QAM) channels after 50 km fiber transmission using two soliton Kerr combs as signal sources and local oscillators. The estimated carrier phase at the receiver for each of the channels is relatively similar due to the coherence between the frequency comb lines. The standard deviation of the estimated carrier phase difference of the channels is less than 0.08 rad after 50 km single-mode fiber (SMF) transmission. This enables the carrier phase recovery derived from one channel to be shared among multiple channels. In the back-to-back scenario, the bit error rate (BER) performance for shared carrier phase recovery shows an optical signal-to-noise ratio penalty of ${\sim}{0.5}\;{\rm dB}$∼0.5dB compared to the BER performance for carrier phase recovery when derived for each channel independently. BERs below the forward error correction threshold are achieved after 50 km SMF transmission with both independent and shared carrier phase recovery for four 20-Gbaud 16-QAM signals.

High-rate photon pairs and sequential Time-Bin entanglement with Si3N4 microring resonators.

Integrated photonics is increasing in importance for compact, robust, and scalable enabling quantum technologies. This is particularly interesting for developing quantum communication networks, where resources need to be deployed in the field. We exploit photonic chip-based Si3N4 microring resonators to realise a photon pair source with low-loss, high-noise suppression and coincidence rates of 80×103 s-1. A simple photonic noise characterisation technique is presented that distinguishes linear and nonlinear contributions useful for system design and optimisation. We then demonstrate an all-fiber 750 MHz clock-rate sequential Time-Bin entanglement scheme with raw interference visibilities > 98 %.

Reconfigurable optical generation of nine Nyquist WDM channels with sinc-shaped temporal pulse trains using a single microresonator-based Kerr frequency comb.

Sinc-shaped temporal pulse trains have a spectrally efficient, rectangular Nyquist spectrum. We demonstrate the simultaneous and reconfigurable optical generation of multiple Nyquist-shaped wavelength-division-multiplexed (WDM) channels having temporal sinc-shaped pulse trains as data carriers. The channels are generated through the insertion of coherent lines using cascaded continuous-wave amplitude modulation around the spectral lines of a microresonator-based Kerr optical frequency comb. For each of nine Kerr frequency comb lines, we insert sub-groups of uniform and coherent lines to generate nine WDM channels. The deviations from ideal Nyquist pulses for the nine channels at repetition rates of 6 and 2 GHz are between 4.2%-6.1% and 2%-4.5%, respectively. Each WDM channel is modulated with on-off keying (OOK) at 6 Gbit/s. In addition, we show the reconfigurability of this method by varying the number of WDM channels, the generated sinc-shaped pulse train repetition rates, the duration, and the number of zero-crossings.

Author Correction: Electrically pumped photonic integrated soliton microcomb.

The original version of this Article contained an error in the first sentence of the Acknowledgements, which incorrectly read 'This publication was supported by Contract HR0011-15-C-0055 (DODOS) from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Defense Sciences Office (DSO).' The correct version states 'Microsystems Technology Office (MTO)' in place of 'Defense Sciences Office (DSO)'. This has been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article.

Orthogonally polarized frequency comb generation from a Kerr comb via cross-phase modulation.

We experimentally demonstrate that a single microresonator can emit two orthogonally polarized individually coherent combs: (i) a strong polarized soliton comb and (ii) an orthogonally polarized continuous wave seeded weaker comb, generated from the first one via cross-phase modulation, sharing the repetition rate of the soliton comb. Experimental results show that the power of the transverse electric-polarized seed can be well below the threshold of comb generation (e.g., 0.1 mW). In addition, simulations show that a dark pulse could be generated in the anomalous dispersion regime by a bright soliton when the two orthogonally polarized modes have the same group velocity in the microresonator.

Electrically pumped photonic integrated soliton microcomb.

Microcombs provide a path to broad-bandwidth integrated frequency combs with low power consumption, which are compatible with wafer-scale fabrication. Yet, electrically-driven, photonic chip-based microcombs are inhibited by the required high threshold power and the frequency agility of the laser for soliton initiation. Here we demonstrate an electrically-driven soliton microcomb by coupling a III-V-material-based (indium phosphide) multiple-longitudinal-mode laser diode chip to a high-Q silicon nitride microresonator fabricated using the photonic Damascene process. The laser diode is self-injection locked to the microresonator, which is accompanied by the narrowing of the laser linewidth, and the simultaneous formation of dissipative Kerr solitons. By tuning the laser diode current, we observe transitions from modulation instability, breather solitons, to single-soliton states. The system operating at an electronically-detectable sub-100-GHz mode spacing requires less than 1 Watt of electrical power, can fit in a volume of ca. 1 cm3, and does not require on-chip filters and heaters, thus simplifying the integrated microcomb.

Scalable and reconfigurable optical tapped-delay-line for multichannel equalization and correlation using nonlinear wave mixing and a Kerr frequency comb.

We experimentally demonstrate a scalable and reconfigurable optical tapped-delay-line (TDL) for multichannel equalization and correlation of 20-Gbaud quadrature-phase-shift-keyed (QPSK) signals using nonlinear wave mixing and a microresonator Kerr frequency comb. The optical TDL mainly consists of two stages: one being a multicasting of the original signals in a periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguide with Kerr comb lines functioning as mutually coherent pumps, while the other is a coherent multiplexing of the delayed and weighted signal replicas in a second PPLN. A two- or three-tap optical TDL is demonstrated to simultaneously equalize a distorted QPSK data signal, reducing the error vector magnitude (EVM) from 22.5% to either 19.9% or 18.2%, and search two- or three-symbol patterns on another QPSK signal.

Effects of erbium-doped fiber amplifier induced pump noise on soliton Kerr frequency combs for 64-quadrature amplitude modulation transmission.

We experimentally investigate the effects of erbium-doped fiber amplifier induced pump noise on soliton Kerr frequency combs for 64-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) transmission. We find that the optical carrier-to-noise ratios (OCNRs) of the comb lines across the C-band almost linearly depend on the pump OCNR and are similar for a constant input pump power and noise. For a specific three-soliton state, despite higher comb line power, there is no noticeable OCNR improvement compared to the single-soliton comb. When the ASE noise on the pump is varied by 10 dB in the stable single-soliton state, the comb linewidths remain relatively unchanged and similar to the pump linewidth. Furthermore, four lines of the single-soliton Kerr comb produced by a pump light at an OCNR larger than 52 dB are used as coherent light sources to transmit 20-Gbaud 64-QAM signals over a 25-km fiber with bit error rate below the forward-error correction threshold.

Photonic chip-based soliton frequency combs covering the biological imaging window.

Dissipative Kerr solitons (DKS) in optical microresonators provide a highly miniaturised, chip-integrated frequency comb source with unprecedentedly high repetition rates and spectral bandwidth. To date, such frequency comb sources have been successfully applied in the optical telecommunication band for dual-comb spectroscopy, coherent telecommunications, counting of optical frequencies and distance measurements. Yet, the range of applications could be significantly extended by operating in the near-infrared spectral domain, which is a prerequisite for biomedical and Raman imaging applications, and hosts commonly used optical atomic transitions. Here we show the operation of photonic-chip-based soliton Kerr combs driven with 1 micron laser light. By engineering the dispersion properties of a Si3N4 microring resonator, octave-spanning soliton Kerr combs extending to 776 nm are attained, thereby covering the optical biological imaging window. Moreover, we show that soliton states can be generated in normal group-velocity dispersion regions when exploiting mode hybridisation with other mode families.