Low-noise frequency synthesis and terahertz wireless communication driven by compact turnkey Kerr combs

Kunpeng Jia; Yuancheng Cai; Xinwei Yi; Chenye Qin; Zexing Zhao; Xiaohan Wang; Yunfeng Liu; Xiaofan Zhang; Shanshan Cheng; Xiaoshun Jiang; Chong Sheng; Yongming Huang; Jianjun Yu; Hui Liu; Biaobing Jin; Xiaohu You; Shi-Ning Zhu; Wei Liang; Min Zhu; Zhenda Xie

doi:10.1038/s41467-025-60630-7

Low-noise frequency synthesis and terahertz wireless communication driven by compact turnkey Kerr combs

Nat Commun. 2025 Jul 7;16(1):6253. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-60630-7.

Authors

Kunpeng Jia^#¹, Yuancheng Cai^#^{2

3}, Xinwei Yi^#⁴, Chenye Qin^#⁴, Zexing Zhao⁴, Xiaohan Wang⁴, Yunfeng Liu⁵, Xiaofan Zhang⁴, Shanshan Cheng⁴, Xiaoshun Jiang⁴, Chong Sheng⁴, Yongming Huang^{6

7}, Jianjun Yu^{2

8}, Hui Liu⁴, Biaobing Jin^{4

2}, Xiaohu You^{2

3}, Shi-Ning Zhu⁴, Wei Liang⁹, Min Zhu^{10

11}, Zhenda Xie¹²

Affiliations

¹ National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, School of Physics, Research Institute of Superconductor Electronics (RISE) & Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Devices and Systems with Extreme Performances of MOE, Key Laboratory of Intelligent Optical Sensing and Manipulation, Ministry of Education, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China. jiakunpeng@nju.edu.cn.
² Purple Mountain Laboratories, Nanjing, China.
³ National Mobile Communications Research Laboratory, Southeast University, Nanjing, China.
⁴ National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, School of Physics, Research Institute of Superconductor Electronics (RISE) & Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Devices and Systems with Extreme Performances of MOE, Key Laboratory of Intelligent Optical Sensing and Manipulation, Ministry of Education, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Semiconductor Display Materials and Chips, Suzhou Institute of Nano-tech and Nano-bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou, China.
⁶ Purple Mountain Laboratories, Nanjing, China. huangym@seu.edu.cn.
⁷ National Mobile Communications Research Laboratory, Southeast University, Nanjing, China. huangym@seu.edu.cn.
⁸ Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
⁹ Key Laboratory of Semiconductor Display Materials and Chips, Suzhou Institute of Nano-tech and Nano-bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou, China. wliang2019@sinano.ac.cn.
¹⁰ Purple Mountain Laboratories, Nanjing, China. minzhu@seu.edu.cn.
¹¹ National Mobile Communications Research Laboratory, Southeast University, Nanjing, China. minzhu@seu.edu.cn.
¹² National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, School of Physics, Research Institute of Superconductor Electronics (RISE) & Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Devices and Systems with Extreme Performances of MOE, Key Laboratory of Intelligent Optical Sensing and Manipulation, Ministry of Education, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China. xiezhenda@nju.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

High frequency microwave, spanning up to terahertz frequency, is pivotal for next-generation communication, sensing and radar. However, it faces fundamental noise limitations when frequency is pushed towards such boundary of conventional electronic technologies. Photonic microwave generation, particularly Kerr-comb-based microwave source, benefits from high frequency operation but still suffers from phase noise constraints. Here we overcome this drawback by developing a compact, electrically-driven Kerr comb system that achieves near quantum-limited phase noise for microwave synthesis up to 384 GHz. Leveraging high-Q fiber Fabry-Perot resonators and optimized noise modeling under limited pump power, we demonstrate ultra-low phase noise performances of -133 dBc/Hz (10.1 GHz) and -95 dBc/Hz (300 GHz) at 10 kHz offset, approaching quantum noise limits. This breakthrough enables 64QAM modulation in terahertz wireless communication and record 240 Gbps data rate without need for carrier phase estimation. Our device can serve as a key building block for the future information technology.