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Mercadé, LAuthorGarnica, JrAuthorGriol, AAuthorMartinez, ACorresponding Author
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Testing Optomechanical Microwave Oscillators for SATCOM Application

Publicated to:Journal Of Lightwave Technology. 40 (14): 4539-4547 - 2022-04-08 40(14), DOI: 10.1109/JLT.2022.3165974

Authors: Mercade, Laura; Rico, Eloy; Ruiz Garnica, Jesus; Carlos Gomez, Juan; Griol, Amadeu; Piqueras, Miguel A; Martinez, Alejandro; Duarte, Vanessa C

Affiliations

DAS Photon - Author
Univ Politecn Valencia, Nanophoton Technol Ctr - Author

Abstract

The realization of photonic microwave oscillators using optomechanical cavities has recently become a reality. By pumping the cavity with a blue-detuned laser, the so-called phonon lasing regime - in which a mechanical resonance is amplified beyond losses - can be reached and the input signal gets modulated by highly-coherent tones at integer multiples of the mechanical resonance. Implementing optomechanical cavities on released films with high index of refraction can lead to optical modes at telecom wavelengths and mechanical resonances in the GHz scale, resulting in highly-stable signals in the microwave domain upon photodetection. Owing to the extreme compactness of such cavities, application in satellite communications (SATCOM) seems highly appropriate, but no experiments have been reported so far. In this paper, an optomechanical microwave oscillator (OMO) built on a micron-scale silicon optomechanical crystal cavity is characterized and tested in a real SATCOM testbed. Using a blue-detuned laser, the OMO is driven into a phonon lasing state where multiple harmonics are generated, reaching tones up to 20 GHz. Under this regime, its practical applicability, remarkably addressing its performance as a photonic local oscillator, has been validated. The results, in addition with the advantages of extreme compactness and silicon-technology compatibility, make OMOs very promising candidates to build ultra-low weight photonics-based microwave oscillators for SATCOM applications.

Keywords
Communication applicationDetunedLasingsMasersMechanical resonanceMicro wave oscillatorMicrowave oscillatorsMicrowave photonicsMicrowavesOptical amplifiersOptomechanicalOptomechanical cavitiesOptomechanical cavityOscillatorsPhonon lasingPhononsPhotonic devicesPhotonicsPumping (laser)ResonanceSatcom applicationSatellite communication applicationSatellite communication systemsSatellite communicationsSiliconSilicon photonics

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Journal Of Lightwave Technology due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2022, it was in position 22/100, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Optics.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from the Field Citation Ratio (FCR) of the Dimensions source, it yields a value of: 3.77, which indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: Dimensions May 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-05-22, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 5
  • Scopus: 6
  • OpenCitations: 7
Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-05-22:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 7.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 7 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 0.5.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 2 (Altmetric).
Leadership analysis of institutional authors

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (Mercadé Morales, Laura) .

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been Martínez Abietar, Alejandro José.