A Neptune-mass exoplanet in close orbit around a very low-mass star challenges formation models.

Theories of planet formation predict that low-mass stars should rarely host exoplanets with masses exceeding that of Neptune. We used radial velocity observations to detect a Neptune-mass exoplanet orbiting LHS 3154, a star that is nine times less massive than the Sun. The exoplanet's orbital period is 3.7 days, and its minimum mass is 13.2 Earth masses. We used simulations to show that the high planet-to-star mass ratio (>3.5 × 10-4) is not an expected outcome of either the core accretion or gravitational instability theories of planet formation. In the core-accretion simulations, we show that close-in Neptune-mass planets are only formed if the dust mass of the protoplanetary disk is an order of magnitude greater than typically observed around very low-mass stars.

Precision Doppler shift measurements with a frequency comb calibrated laser heterodyne radiometer.

We report precision atmospheric spectroscopy of CO2 using a laser heterodyne radiometer (LHR) calibrated with an optical frequency comb. Using the comb calibrated LHR, we record spectra of atmospheric CO2 near 1572.33 nm with a spectral resolution of 200 MHz, using sunlight as a light source. The measured CO2 spectra exhibit frequency shifts by approximately 11 MHz over the course of the 5-h measurement, and we show that these shifts are caused by Doppler effects due to wind along the spectrometer line of sight. The measured frequency shifts are in excellent agreement with an atmospheric model, and we show that our measurements track the wind-induced Doppler shifts with a relative frequency precision of 2 MHz (3 m·s-1) for a single 10 s measurement, improving to 100 kHz (15 cm·s-1) after averaging (equivalent to a fractional precision of a few parts in 1010). These results demonstrate that frequency comb calibrated LHR enables precision velocimetry that can be of use in applications ranging from climate science to astronomy.

High-performance, compact optical standard.

We describe a high-performance, compact optical frequency standard based on a microfabricated Rb vapor cell and a low-noise, external cavity diode laser operating on the Rb two-photon transition at 778 nm. The optical standard achieves an instability of 1.8×10-13τ-1/2 for times less than 100 s and a flicker noise floor of 1×10-14 out to 6000 s. At long integration times, the instability is limited by variations in optical probe power and the ac Stark shift. The retrace was measured to 5.7×10-13 after 30 h of dormancy. Such a simple, yet high-performance optical standard could be suitable as an accurate realization of the meter or, if coupled with an optical frequency comb, as a compact atomic clock comparable to a hydrogen maser.

Broadband Stability of the Habitable Zone Planet Finder Fabry-Pérot Etalon Calibration System: Evidence for Chromatic Variation.

The comblike spectrum of a white light-illuminated Fabry-Pérot etalon can serve as a cost-effective and stable reference for precise Doppler measurements. Understanding the stability of these devices across their broad (hundreds of nanometers) spectral bandwidths is essential to realizing their full potential as Doppler calibrators. However, published descriptions remain limited to small bandwidths or short time spans. We present an ~6 month broadband stability monitoring campaign of the Fabry-Pérot etalon system deployed with the near-infrared Habitable Zone Planet Finder (HPF) spectrograph. We monitor the wavelengths of each of ~3500 resonant modes measured in HPF spectra of this Fabry-Pérot etalon (free spectral range = 30 GHz, bandwidth = 820-1280 nm), leveraging the accuracy and precision of an electro-optic frequency comb reference. These results reveal chromatic structure in the Fabry-Pérot mode locations and their evolution with time. We measure an average drift on the order of 2 cm s-1 day-1, with local departures up to ±5 cm s-1 day-1. We discuss these behaviors in the context of the Fabry-Pérot etalon mirror dispersion and other optical properties of the system and the implications for the use of similar systems for precise Doppler measurements. Our results show that this system supports the wavelength calibration of HPF at the ≲10 cm s-1 level over a night and the ≲30 cm s-1 level over ~10 days. Our results also highlight the need for long-term and spectrally resolved study of similar systems that will be deployed to support Doppler measurement precision approaching ~10 cm s-1.

Direct Kerr frequency comb atomic spectroscopy and stabilization.

Microresonator-based soliton frequency combs, microcombs, have recently emerged to offer low-noise, photonic-chip sources for applications, spanning from timekeeping to optical-frequency synthesis and ranging. Broad optical bandwidth, brightness, coherence, and frequency stability have made frequency combs important to directly probe atoms and molecules, especially in trace gas detection, multiphoton light-atom interactions, and spectroscopy in the extreme ultraviolet. Here, we explore direct microcomb atomic spectroscopy, using a cascaded, two-photon 1529-nm atomic transition in a rubidium micromachined cell. Fine and simultaneous repetition rate and carrier-envelope offset frequency control of the soliton enables direct sub-Doppler and hyperfine spectroscopy. Moreover, the entire set of microcomb modes are stabilized to this atomic transition, yielding absolute optical-frequency fluctuations at the kilohertz level over a few seconds and <1-MHz day-to-day accuracy. Our work demonstrates direct atomic spectroscopy with Kerr microcombs and provides an atomic-stabilized microcomb laser source, operating across the telecom band for sensing, dimensional metrology, and communication.

Interlocking Kerr-microresonator frequency combs for microwave to optical synthesis.

We report accurate phase stabilization of an interlocking pair of Kerr-microresonator frequency combs. The two combs, one based on silicon nitride and one on silica, feature nearly harmonic repetition frequencies and can be generated with one laser. The silicon-nitride comb supports an ultrafast-laser regime with three-optical-cycle, 1-picosecond-period soliton pulses and a total dispersive-wave-enhanced bandwidth of 170 THz, while providing a stable phase-link between optical and microwave frequencies. We demonstrate nanofabrication control of the silicon-nitride comb's carrier-envelope offset frequency and spectral profile. The phase-locked combs coherently reproduce their clock with a fractional precision of <6×10-13/τ, a behavior we verified through 2 h of measurement to reach <3×10-16. Our work establishes Kerr combs as a viable technology for applications like optical-atomic timekeeping and optical synchronization.

An optical-frequency synthesizer using integrated photonics.

Optical-frequency synthesizers, which generate frequency-stable light from a single microwave-frequency reference, are revolutionizing ultrafast science and metrology, but their size, power requirement and cost need to be reduced if they are to be more widely used. Integrated-photonics microchips can be used in high-coherence applications, such as data transmission 1 , highly optimized physical sensors 2 and harnessing quantum states 3 , to lower cost and increase efficiency and portability. Here we describe a method for synthesizing the absolute frequency of a lightwave signal, using integrated photonics to create a phase-coherent microwave-to-optical link. We use a heterogeneously integrated III-V/silicon tunable laser, which is guided by nonlinear frequency combs fabricated on separate silicon chips and pumped by off-chip lasers. The laser frequency output of our optical-frequency synthesizer can be programmed by a microwave clock across 4 terahertz near 1,550 nanometres (the telecommunications C-band) with 1 hertz resolution. Our measurements verify that the output of the synthesizer is exceptionally stable across this region (synthesis error of 7.7 × 10-15 or below). Any application of an optical-frequency source could benefit from the high-precision optical synthesis presented here. Leveraging high-volume semiconductor processing built around advanced materials could allow such low-cost, low-power and compact integrated-photonics devices to be widely used.

Coherent ultra-violet to near-infrared generation in silica ridge waveguides.

Short duration, intense pulses of light can experience dramatic spectral broadening when propagating through lengths of optical fibre. This continuum generation process is caused by a combination of nonlinear optical effects including the formation of dispersive waves. Optical analogues of Cherenkov radiation, these waves allow a pulse to radiate power into a distant spectral region. In this work, efficient and coherent dispersive wave generation of visible to ultraviolet light is demonstrated in silica waveguides on a silicon chip. Unlike fibre broadeners, the arrays provide a wide range of emission wavelength choices on a single, compact chip. This new capability is used to simplify offset frequency measurements of a mode-locked frequency comb. The arrays can also enable mode-locked lasers to attain unprecedented tunable spectral reach for spectroscopy, bioimaging, tomography and metrology.