Towards visible soliton microcomb generation
Abstract
Frequency combs have applications that extend from the ultra-violet into the mid-infrared bands. Microcombs, a miniature and often semiconductor-chip-based device, can potentially access most of these applications, but are currently more limited in spectral reach. Here, we demonstrate mode-locked silica microcombs with emission near the edge of the visible spectrum. By using both geometrical and mode-hybridization dispersion control, devices are engineered for soliton generation while also maintaining optical Q factors as high as 80 million. Electronics-bandwidth-compatible (20 GHz) soliton mode locking is achieved with low pumping powers (parametric oscillation threshold powers as low as 5.4 mW). These are the shortest wavelength soliton microcombs demonstrated to date and could be used in miniature optical clocks. The results should also extend to visible and potentially ultra-violet bands.
Additional Information
© 2017 The Author(s). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Received: 29 May 2017; Accepted: 20 September 2017; Published online: 03 November 2017. Data availability: The data that support the plots within this paper and other findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. The authors thank Scott Diddams and Andrey Matsko for helpful comments on this work. The authors gratefully acknowledge the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency under the ACES program (Award No. HR0011-16-C-0118) and the SCOUT program (Award No. W911NF-16-1-0548). The authors also thank the Kavli Nanoscience Institute. Contributions: S.H.L., D.Y.O., Q.-F.Y., B.S., H.W. and K.V. conceived the experiment. S.H.L. fabricated devices with assistance from D.Y.O., B.S., H.W. and K.Y.Y. D.Y.O., Q.-F.Y., B.S. and H.W. tested the resonator structures with assistance from S.H.L., K.Y.Y., Y.H.L. and X.Y. S.H.L., D.Y.O., Q.-F.Y., B.S., H.W. and X.L. modeled the device designs. All authors analyzed the data and contributed to writing the manuscript. The authors declare no competing financial interests.Attached Files
Published - s41467-017-01473-9.pdf
Submitted - 1705.06703.pdf
Supplemental Material - 41467_2017_1473_MOESM1_ESM.pdf
Files
Additional details
- PMCID
- PMC5670225
- Eprint ID
- 79577
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20170731-082550519
- HR0011-16-C-0118
- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
- W911NF-16-1-0548
- Army Research Office (ARO)
- Kavli Nanoscience Institute
- Created
-
2017-08-01Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-11-15Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Kavli Nanoscience Institute