Yeung Matthew, Chou Lu-Ting, Turchetti Marco, Ritzkowsky Felix, Berggren Karl K, Keathley Philip D
Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Institute of Biophotonics, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Linong Street, Beitou District, Taipei City 112304, Taiwan.
Sci Adv. 2024 Aug 16;10(33):eadq0642. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adq0642. Epub 2024 Aug 14.
Electronic frequency mixers are fundamental building blocks of electronic systems. Harmonic frequency mixing in particular enables broadband electromagnetic signal analysis across octaves of spectrum using a single local oscillator. However, conventional harmonic frequency mixers do not operate beyond hundreds of gigahertz to a few terahertz. If extended to the petahertz scale in a compact and scalable form, harmonic mixers would enable field-resolved optical signal analysis spanning octaves of spectra in a monolithic device without the need for frequency conversion using nonlinear crystals. Here, we demonstrate lightwave-electronic harmonic frequency mixing beyond 0.350 PHz using plasmonic nanoantennas. We demonstrate that the mixing process enables complete, field-resolved detection of spectral content far outside that of the local oscillator, greatly extending the range of detectable frequencies compared to conventional heterodyning techniques. Our work has important implications for applications where optical signals of interest exhibit coherent femtosecond-scale dynamics spanning multiple harmonics.
电子混频器是电子系统的基本构建模块。特别是谐波混频能够利用单个本地振荡器对跨越多个倍频程的频谱进行宽带电磁信号分析。然而，传统的谐波混频器工作频率不会超过几百吉赫兹到几太赫兹。如果能以紧凑且可扩展的形式扩展到拍赫兹尺度，谐波混频器将能够在单片器件中对跨越多个倍频程的频谱进行场分辨光信号分析，而无需使用非线性晶体进行频率转换。在此，我们展示了使用等离子体纳米天线实现超过0.350拍赫兹的光波 - 电子谐波混频。我们证明，该混频过程能够对远超出本地振荡器频率范围的光谱内容进行完整的、场分辨检测，与传统外差技术相比，极大地扩展了可检测频率的范围。我们的工作对于感兴趣的光信号表现出跨越多个谐波的相干飞秒级动力学的应用具有重要意义。
