Laser cavity-soliton microcombs

Bao, Hualong and Cooper, Andrew and Rowley, Maxwell and Di Lauro, Luigi and Totero Gongora, Juan Sebastian and Chu, Sai T. and Little, Brent E. and Oppo, Gian-Luca and Morandotti, Roberto and Moss, David J. and Wetzel, Benjamin and Peccianti, Marco and Pasquazi, Alessia (2019) Laser cavity-soliton microcombs. Nature Photonics, 13 (6). pp. 384-389. ISSN 1749-4885 (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-019-0379-5)

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Abstract

Microcavity-based frequency combs, or ‘microcombs’ have enabled many fundamental breakthroughs through the discovery of temporal cavity-solitons. These self-localized waves, described by the Lugiato–Lefever equation, are sustained by a background of radiation usually containing 95% of the total power. Simple methods for their efficient generation and control are currently being investigated to finally establish microcombs as out-of-the-lab tools. Here, we demonstrate microcomb laser cavity-solitons. Laser cavity-solitons are intrinsically background-free and have underpinned key breakthroughs in semiconductor lasers. By merging their properties with the physics of multimode systems, we provide a new paradigm for soliton generation and control in microcavities. We demonstrate 50-nm-wide bright soliton combs induced at average powers more than one order of magnitude lower than the Lugiato–Lefever soliton power threshold, measuring a mode efficiency of 75% versus the theoretical limit of 5% for bright Lugiato–Lefever solitons. Finally, we can tune the repetition rate by well over a megahertz without any active feedback.

  • Item type:Article
    ID code:67427
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    1 June 2019
    Published
    11 March 2019
    Published Online
    1 February 2019
    Accepted
    Subjects:Science > Physics > Optics. Light
    Department:Faculty of Science > Physics
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:26 Mar 2019 13:17
    Last modified:19 Apr 2024 00:22
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/67427
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