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The phase-coherent frequency division of a stabilized optical reference laser to the microwave domain is made possible by optical-frequency combs (OFCs)1,2. OFC-based clockworks3–6 lock one comb tooth to a reference laser, which probes a stable atomic transition, usually through an active servo that increases the complexity of the OFC photonic and electronic integration for fieldable clock applications. Here, we demonstrate that the Kerr nonlinearity enables passive, electronics-free synchronization of a microresonator-based dissipative Kerr soliton (DKS) OFC7 to an externally injected reference laser. We present a theoretical model explaining this Kerr-induced synchronization (KIS), which closely matches experimental results based on a chip-integrated, silicon nitride, micro-ring resonator. Once synchronized, the reference laser captures an OFC tooth, so that tuning its frequency provides direct external control of the OFC repetition rate. We also show that the stability of the ....

Dissipative Kerr , Quantum Electron , Photonics Rev ,