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Zhang M, Ding S, Li X, Pu K, Lei S, Xiao M, Jiang X. Strong interactions between solitons and background light in Brillouin-Kerr microcombs. Nat Commun 2024; 15:1661. [PMID: 38395966 PMCID: PMC10891115 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-46026-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2023] [Accepted: 02/12/2024] [Indexed: 02/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Dissipative Kerr-soliton combs are laser pulses regularly sustained by a localized solitary wave on top of a continuous-wave background inside a nonlinear resonator. Usually, the intrinsic interactions between the background light and solitons are weak and localized. Here, we demonstrate a strong interaction between the generated soliton comb and the background light in a Brillouin-Kerr microcomb system. This strong interaction enables the generation of a monostable single-soliton microcomb on a silicon chip. Also, new phenomena related to soliton physics including solitons hopping between different states as well as controlling the formations of the soliton states by the pump power, are observed owing to such strong interaction. Utilizing this monostable single-soliton microcomb, we achieve the 100% deterministic turnkey operation successfully without any feedback controls. Importantly, it allows to output turnkey ultra-low-noise microwave signals using a free-running pump.
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Affiliation(s)
- Menghua Zhang
- National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, School of Physics, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructure, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China
| | - Shulin Ding
- National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, School of Physics, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructure, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China
| | - Xinxin Li
- National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, School of Physics, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructure, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China
| | - Keren Pu
- National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, School of Physics, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructure, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China
| | - Shujian Lei
- National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, School of Physics, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructure, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China
| | - Min Xiao
- National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, School of Physics, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructure, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China
| | - Xiaoshun Jiang
- National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, School of Physics, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructure, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China.
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Helgason ÓB, Girardi M, Ye Z, Lei F, Schröder J, Torres-Company V. Surpassing the nonlinear conversion efficiency of soliton microcombs. NATURE PHOTONICS 2023; 17:992-999. [PMID: 37920810 PMCID: PMC10618085 DOI: 10.1038/s41566-023-01280-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2022] [Accepted: 07/27/2023] [Indexed: 11/04/2023]
Abstract
Laser frequency combs are enabling some of the most exciting scientific endeavours in the twenty-first century, ranging from the development of optical clocks to the calibration of the astronomical spectrographs used for discovering Earth-like exoplanets. Dissipative Kerr solitons generated in microresonators currently offer the prospect of attaining frequency combs in miniaturized systems by capitalizing on advances in photonic integration. Most of the applications based on soliton microcombs rely on tuning a continuous-wave laser into a longitudinal mode of a microresonator engineered to display anomalous dispersion. In this configuration, however, nonlinear physics precludes one from attaining dissipative Kerr solitons with high power conversion efficiency, with typical comb powers amounting to ~1% of the available laser power. Here we demonstrate that this fundamental limitation can be overcome by inducing a controllable frequency shift to a selected cavity resonance. Experimentally, we realize this shift using two linearly coupled anomalous-dispersion microresonators, resulting in a coherent dissipative Kerr soliton with a conversion efficiency exceeding 50% and excellent line spacing stability. We describe the soliton dynamics in this configuration and find vastly modified characteristics. By optimizing the microcomb power available on-chip, these results facilitate the practical implementation of a scalable integrated photonic architecture for energy-efficient applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Óskar B. Helgason
- Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Marcello Girardi
- Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Zhichao Ye
- Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Fuchuan Lei
- Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Jochen Schröder
- Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Victor Torres-Company
- Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden
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Hwang H, Heo H, Ko K, Nurrahman MR, Moon K, Ju JJ, Han SW, Jung H, Lee H, Seo MK. Electro-optic control of the external coupling strength of a high-quality-factor lithium niobate micro-resonator. OPTICS LETTERS 2022; 47:6149-6152. [PMID: 37219194 DOI: 10.1364/ol.472956] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2022] [Accepted: 10/10/2022] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Controlling the optical coupling between a micro-resonator and waveguide plays a key role in on-chip photonic circuits. Here, we demonstrate a two-point coupled lithium niobate (LN) racetrack micro-resonator that enables us to electro-optically traverse a full set of the zero-, under-, critical-, and over-coupling regimes with minimized disturbance of the intrinsic properties of the resonant mode. The modulation between the zero- and critical-coupling conditions cost a resonant frequency shift of only ∼344.2 MHz and rarely changed the intrinsic quality (Q) factor of 4.6 × 105. Our device is a promising element in on-chip coherent photon storage/retrieval and its applications.
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Cutrona A, Rowley M, Das D, Olivieri L, Peters L, Chu ST, Little BE, Morandotti R, Moss DJ, Totero Gongora JS, Peccianti M, Pasquazi A. High parametric efficiency in laser cavity-soliton microcombs. OPTICS EXPRESS 2022; 30:39816-39825. [PMID: 36298924 DOI: 10.1364/oe.470376] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2022] [Accepted: 09/16/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Laser cavity-soliton microcombs are robust optical pulsed sources, usually implemented with a microresonator-filtered fibre laser. In such a configuration, a nonlinear microcavity converts the narrowband pulse resulting from bandwidth-limited amplification to a background-free broadband microcomb. Here, we theoretically and experimentally study the soliton conversion efficiency between the narrowband input pulse and the two outputs of a four-port integrated microcavity, namely the 'Drop' and 'Through' ports. We simultaneously measure on-chip, single-soliton conversion efficiencies of 45% and 25% for the two broadband comb outputs at the 'Drop' and 'Through' ports of a 48.9 GHz free-spectral range micro-ring resonator, obtaining a total conversion efficiency of 72%.
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Li Z, Han F, Dong Z, Du Q, Luo Z. On-chip mid-IR octave-tunable Raman soliton laser. OPTICS EXPRESS 2022; 30:25356-25365. [PMID: 36237067 DOI: 10.1364/oe.462425] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2022] [Accepted: 06/15/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Photonic chip-based continuously tunable lasers are widely recognized as an indispensable component for photonic integrated circuits (PICs). Specifically, mid-infrared (mid-IR) laser sources are of paramount importance in applications such as photonic sensing and spectroscopy. In this article, we theoretically investigate the propagation dynamics of mid-IR Raman soliton in Ge28Sb12Se60 chalcogenide glass waveguide. By carefully engineer the waveguide dispersion and nonlinear interaction, we propose a suspended chalcogenide glass waveguide device that allows an octave-tuning, from 1.96 µm to 3.98 µm, Raman soliton source. The threshold pump energy is in the low pico-Joule range. Our result provides a solution to continuously tunable on-chip mid-IR ultrafast laser sources.
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Zhang Y, Zhong K, Zhou X, Tsang HK. Broadband high-Q multimode silicon concentric racetrack resonators for widely tunable Raman lasers. Nat Commun 2022; 13:3534. [PMID: 35725566 PMCID: PMC9209424 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-31244-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2021] [Accepted: 06/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Multimode silicon resonators with ultralow propagation losses for ultrahigh quality (Q) factors have been attracting attention recently. However, conventional multimode silicon resonators only have high Q factors at certain wavelengths because the Q factors are reduced at wavelengths where fundamental modes and higher-order modes are both near resonances. Here, by implementing a broadband pulley directional coupler and concentric racetracks, we present a broadband high-Q multimode silicon resonator with average loaded Q factors of 1.4 × 106 over a wavelength range of 440 nm (1240–1680 nm). The mutual coupling between the two multimode racetracks can lead to two supermodes that mitigate the reduction in Q factors caused by the mode coupling of the higher-order modes. Based on the broadband high-Q multimode resonator, we experimentally demonstrated a broadly tunable Raman silicon laser with over 516 nm wavelength tuning range (1325–1841 nm), a threshold power of (0.4 ± 0.1) mW and a slope efficiency of (8.5 ± 1.5) % at 25 V reverse bias. The authors demonstrate a new approach for multimode resonators to maintain high-quality-factor resonances across a broad wavelength range using the detuning between the symmetric and anti-symmetric supermodes in concentric racetrack resonators.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yaojing Zhang
- Department of Electronic Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong.
| | - Keyi Zhong
- Department of Electronic Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong
| | - Xuetong Zhou
- Department of Electronic Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong
| | - Hon Ki Tsang
- Department of Electronic Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong.
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