Integrated Optical and Microwave Frequency Division Leveraging Photon-Phonon Interactions

Nontechnical Description: Emerging technologies—including next-generation wireless communications (5G/6G), satellite communications, high-resolution radar, and precision measurement systems—require microwave signals that are both extremely stable and capable of operating at ever higher frequencies. Existing electronic technologies are increasingly limited by higher noise, greater power consumption, and rising system complexity, creating a growing need for alternative approaches. Optical frequency division, which transfers the exceptional stability of light to microwave signals, offers a promising solution but remains difficult to implement in compact, energy-efficient systems because current chip-scale technologies cannot simultaneously provide broad optical bandwidth, high conversion efficiency, and practical microwave output frequencies. This project will develop a new integrated photonic platform based on crystalline silicon carbide to overcome these limitations by combining multiple optical and optomechanical functions on a single chip. The resulting technology could enable compact, low-power sources of ultrastable microwave signals for future communication, sensing, navigation, and scientific instrumentation while providing interdisciplinary training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students. Technical Description: Specifically, this project investigates new approaches for chip-scale optical and microwave frequency division by combining nonlinear optics and cavity optomechanics on a crystalline 4H-silicon-carbide-on-insulator platform. The research will exploit Raman nonlinear interactions to generate broadband optical frequency combs in compact microresonators and develop optomechanical devices that convert optical frequency stability into low-noise microwave signals through strong photon–phonon interactions. By integrating these complementary technologies on a single platform, the project aims to achieve substantially higher frequency division ratios than existing chip-scale techniques, providing a scalable route toward compact, low-power frequency synthesizers for next-generation precision timing, communications, sensing, and metrology applications. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.