Self-referenced dissipative Kerr solitons (DKSs) based on optical microresonators offer prominent characteristics allowing for various applications from precision measurement to astronomical spectrometer calibration. ...Self-referenced dissipative Kerr solitons (DKSs) based on optical microresonators offer prominent characteristics allowing for various applications from precision measurement to astronomical spectrometer calibration. To date,direct octave-spanning DKS generation has been achieved only in ultrahigh-Q silicon nitride microresonators under optimized laser tuning speed or bi-directional tuning. Here we propose a simple method to easily access the octave-spanning DKS in an aluminum nitride (AlN) microresonator. In the design,two modes that belong to different families but with the same polarization are nearly degenerate and act as a pump and an auxiliary resonance,respectively. The presence of the auxiliary resonance can balance the thermal dragging effect,crucially simplifying the DKS generation with a single pump and leading to an enhanced soliton access window. We experimentally demonstrate the long-lived DKS operation with a record single-soliton step (10.4 GHz or83 pm) and an octave-spanning bandwidth (1100–2300 nm) through adiabatic pump tuning. Our scheme also allows for direct creation of the DKS state with high probability and without elaborate wavelength or power schemes being required to stabilize the soliton behavior.展开更多
基金Science Foundation Ireland (17/NSFC/4918)National Natural Science Foundation of China(61861136001)。
文摘Self-referenced dissipative Kerr solitons (DKSs) based on optical microresonators offer prominent characteristics allowing for various applications from precision measurement to astronomical spectrometer calibration. To date,direct octave-spanning DKS generation has been achieved only in ultrahigh-Q silicon nitride microresonators under optimized laser tuning speed or bi-directional tuning. Here we propose a simple method to easily access the octave-spanning DKS in an aluminum nitride (AlN) microresonator. In the design,two modes that belong to different families but with the same polarization are nearly degenerate and act as a pump and an auxiliary resonance,respectively. The presence of the auxiliary resonance can balance the thermal dragging effect,crucially simplifying the DKS generation with a single pump and leading to an enhanced soliton access window. We experimentally demonstrate the long-lived DKS operation with a record single-soliton step (10.4 GHz or83 pm) and an octave-spanning bandwidth (1100–2300 nm) through adiabatic pump tuning. Our scheme also allows for direct creation of the DKS state with high probability and without elaborate wavelength or power schemes being required to stabilize the soliton behavior.
