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Microwave photonics connected with microresonator frequency combs

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Abstract

Microresonator frequency combs (micro-combs) are very promising as ultra-compact broadband sources for microwave photonic applications. Conversely, microwave photonic techniques are also employed intensely in the study of microcombs to reveal and control the comb formation dynamics. In this paper, we reviewed the microwave photonic techniques and applications that are connected with microcombs. The future research directions of microcomb-based microwave photonics were also discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University, 465 Northwestern Avenue, West Lafayette, Indiana, 47907-2035, USA

    Xiaoxiao Xue & Andrew M. Weiner

  2. Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University, 1205 West State Street, West Lafayette, Indiana, 47907, USA

    Andrew M. Weiner

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  1. Xiaoxiao Xue
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  2. Andrew M. Weiner
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Correspondence to Xiaoxiao Xue or Andrew M. Weiner.

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Xiaoxiao Xue received the B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electronic engineering with the highest honors from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in 2007 and 2012, respectively. Since 2013, he has been working as a postdoctoral researcher in the Ultrafast Optics and Optical Fiber Communications Laboratory in Purdue University. His research interests include microresonatorbased Kerr comb generation, microwave photonic signal processing, radio over fiber, and phased array antennas. He was a recipient of the 2012Wang Daheng Prize funded by the Optical Society of China for his Ph.D. dissertation on microwave photonic signal processing.

Andrew M. Weiner graduated from M.I.T. in 1984 with an Sc.D. degree in electrical engineering. Upon graduation he joined Bellcore, first as a Technical Staff Member and later as a Manager of Ultrafast Optics and Optical Signal Processing Research. He moved to Purdue University in 1992 and is currently the Scifres Family Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. His research focuses on ultrafast optics signal processing and applications to high-speed optical communications and ultrawideband wireless. He is especially well known for his pioneering work on programmable femtosecond pulse shaping using liquid crystal modulator arrays. He is the author of a textbook entitled Ultrafast Optics and has published more than 250 journal articles. He is a Fellow of the OSA and is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering. He has won numerous awards for his research, including the Hertz Foundation Doctoral Thesis Prize, the OSA Adolph Lomb Medal, the ASEE Curtis McGraw Research Award, the International Commission on Optics Prize, the IEEE LEOS William Streifer Scientific Achievement Award, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Award for Senior US Scientists, the OSA R.W. Wood Prize, and the IEEE Photonics Society Quantum Electronics Award. He has served as the Chair or Co-Chair of the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics, the International Conference on Ultrafast Phenomena and the National Academy of Engineering’s Frontiers of Engineering symposium, as the Secretary/Treasurer of the IEEE Lasers and Electro-optics Society (LEOS), and as the Vice-President of the International Commission on Optics (ICO). He is currently the Editor-in-chief of Optics Express.

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Xue, X., Weiner, A.M. Microwave photonics connected with microresonator frequency combs. Front. Optoelectron. 9, 238–248 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12200-016-0621-4

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