Self-Stabilization of the Optical Frequencies and the Pulse Repetition Rate in a Coupled Optoelectronic Oscillator

A coupled optoelectronic oscillator (COEO) based on a laser with a high finesse intracavity etalon is presented. Unlike a conventional COEO, the incorporation of the etalon produces a 10.24-GHz spaced optical frequency comb by selecting a single optical supermode. The same etalon serves as a reference for active stabilization of the optical frequencies and the pulse repetition rate via the Pound-Drever-Hall stabilization method. This results in 160 to 190 comb lines with sub-1-MHz drift and sub-10-kHz linewidth, as well as subpicosecond pulses and 350-Hz maximum deviation of the pulse repetition rate over 10 min. The completely self-contained source allows the COEO utility to extend to a host of new coherent communication and signal processing applications.