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Published August 3, 2023 | in press
Journal Article Open

Soliton pulse pairs at multiple colours in normal dispersion microresonators

Abstract

Soliton microcombs are helping to advance the miniaturization of a range of comb systems. These combs mode lock through the formation of short temporal pulses in anomalous dispersion resonators. Here, a new microcomb is demonstrated that mode locks through the formation of pulse pairs in coupled normal dispersion resonators. Unlike conventional microcombs, pulses in this system cannot exist alone, and instead phase lock in pairs wherein pulses in each pair feature different optical spectra. The pairwise mode-locking modality extends to multiple pulse pairs and beyond two rings, and it greatly constrains mode-locking states. Two- (bipartite) and three-ring (tripartite) states containing many pulse pairs are demonstrated, including crystal states. Pulse pairs can also form at recurring spectral windows. We obtained the results using an ultra-low-loss Si₃N₄ platform that has not previously produced bright solitons on account of its inherent normal dispersion. The ability to generate multicolour pulse pairs over multiple rings is an important new feature for microcombs. It can extend the concept of all-optical soliton buffers and memories to multiple storage rings that multiplex pulses with respect to soliton colour and that are spatially addressable. The results also suggest a new platform for the study of topological photonics and quantum combs.

Copyright and License

© 2023 Nature Publishing Group.

Acknowledgement

We thank C. Xiang for providing the optical images of the resonators, and X. Yi and M. Rechtsman for helpful discussions. This work is supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (grant no. HR0011-22-2-0009 to Z.Y., M.G., Y.Y., H.W., Q.-X.J, J.B. and K.V., and W911NF2310178 to K.V.), the Defense Threat Reduction Agency-Joint Science and Technology Office for Chemical and Biological Defense (grant no. HD-TRA11810047 to Z.Y. and K.V.), the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (grant no. FA9550-18-1-0353 to K.V.) and the Kavli Nanoscience Institute at Caltech. The content of the information does not necessarily reflect the position or the policy of the federal government, and no official endorsement should be inferred.

Contributions

These authors contributed equally: Zhiquan Yuan, Maodong Gao, Yan Yu, Heming Wang, Warren Jin.

The concepts were developed by Z.Y., M.G., Y.Y., H.W., W.J., J.B. and K.V. Measurements and modelling were performed by Z.Y., M.G., Y.Y., H.W., W.J. and Q.-X.J. The structures were designed by W.J. and H.W. Sample preparation and logistical support provided by A.F. and M.P. All of the authors contributed to the writing of the manuscript. The project was supervised by J.B. and K.V.

Data Availability

The data that support the plots within this paper and other findings of this study are available on figshare (https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.6690611.v1). All other data used in this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Code Availability

The codes that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Additional details

Created:
September 29, 2023
Modified:
September 29, 2023