Chengying Bao

Intracavity characterization of micro-comb generation in the single-soliton regime.

We use a drop-port geometry to characterize the intracavity waveform of an on-chip microcavity soliton. In contrast to the through-port output, the intracavity field shows efficient power transfer from the pump into the comb.

Observation of Fermi-Pasta-Ulam Recurrence Induced by Breather Solitons in an Optical Microresonator

We present, experimentally and numerically, the observation of Fermi-Pasta-Ulam recurrence induced by breather solitons in a high-Q SiN microresonator. Breather solitons can be excited by increasing the pump power at a relatively small pump phase detuning in microresonators. Out of phase power evolution is observed for groups of comb lines around the center of the spectrum compared to groups of lines in the spectral wings. The evolution of the power spectrum is not symmetric with respect to the spectrum center. Numerical simulations based on the generalized Lugiato-Lefever equation are in good agreement with the experimental results and unveil the role of stimulated Raman scattering in the symmetry breaking of the power spectrum evolution. Our results show that optical microresonators can be exploited as a powerful platform for the exploration of soliton dynamics.

Dispersion engineering and frequency comb generation in thin silicon nitride concentric microresonators

Kerr nonlinearity-based frequency combs and solitons have been generated from on-chip microresonators. The initiation of the combs requires global or local anomalous dispersion which leads to many limitations, such as material choice, film thickness, and spectral ranges where combs can be generated, as well as fabrication challenges. Using a concentric racetrack-shaped resonator, we show that such constraints can be lifted and resonator dispersion can be engineered to be anomalous over moderately broad bandwidth. We demonstrate anomalous dispersion in a 300 nm thick silicon nitride film, suitable for semiconductor manufacturing but previously thought to result in waveguides with high normal dispersion. Together with a mode-selective, tapered coupling scheme, we generate coherent mode-locked frequency combs. Our method can realize anomalous dispersion for resonators at almost any wavelength and simultaneously achieve material and process compatibility with semiconductor manufacturing.Kerr frequency comb generation from microresonators requires anomalous dispersion, imposing restrictions on materials and resonator design. Here, Kim et al. propose a concentric racetrack-resonator design where the dispersion can be engineered to be anomalous via resonant mode coupling.Kerr nonlinearity based frequency combs and solitons have been generated from on-chip optical microresonators with high quality factors and global or local anomalous dispersion. However, fabrication of such resonators usually requires materials and/or processes that are not standard in semiconductor manufacturing facilities. Moreover, in certain frequency regimes such as visible and ultra-violet, the large normal material dispersion makes it extremely difficult to achieve anomalous dispersion. Here we present a concentric racetrack-shaped resonator that achieves anomalous dispersion in a 300 nm thick silicon nitride film, suitable for semiconductor manufacturing but previously thought to result only in waveguides with high normal dispersion, a high intrinsic Q of 1.5 million, and a novel mode-selective coupling scheme that allows coherent combs to be generated. We also provide evidence suggestive of soliton-like pulse formation in the generated comb. Our method can achieve anomalous dispersion over moderately broad bandwidth for resonators at almost any wavelength while still maintaining material and process compatibility with high-volume semiconductor manufacturing.

Direct soliton generation in microresonators

We investigate, numerically and experimentally, the effect of thermo-optical (TO) chaos on soliton generation dynamics in microresonators. Numerical simulations that include the thermal dynamics show that the generated solitons can either survive or annihilate when the pump laser is scanned from blue to red and then stop at a fixed wavelength; the outcome is stochastic and is strongly related to the number of solitons generated. The random fluctuations of the cavity resonance occurring under TO chaos are also found to trigger delayed spontaneous soliton generation after the laser scan ends, which could enable soliton excitation with slow laser tuning speed. Stochastic soliton annihilation/survival, as well as delayed spontaneous soliton generation, is observed experimentally in a silicon-nitride microresonator.

Soliton repetition rate in a silicon-nitride microresonator

We show soliton-self-frequency-shift (SSFS) in a SiN microresonator dominates the change of soliton repetition rate relative to thermal effects. The SSFS-induced repetition rate change with detuning is not directly dependent on the dispersion.

Spatial mode-interaction induced single soliton generation in microresonators

Soliton mode-locking in microresonators enables chip-scale coherent optical frequency comb generation. However, it usually leads to multi-soliton combs with a structured spectrum. Instead, the smooth spectrum of a single soliton is favored for applications. Here, we introduce, experimentally and numerically, a passive mechanism for single temporal soliton formation arising from spatial mode-interaction in microresonators. Deterministic single soliton generation is observed for microresonators with strong mode-interaction in experiments and simulations. Further simulations demonstrate that the soliton number is reduced to one in order to lower the nonlinear loss into mode-interaction induced Cherenkov radiation (CR). Our results give important insights into soliton–CR interaction in cavities.