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Published March 2019 | Submitted + Published
Journal Article Open

Free-carrier-driven Kerr frequency comb in optical microcavities: Steady state, bistability, self-pulsation, and modulation instability

Abstract

Continuous-wave pumped optical microresonators have been vastly exploited to generate a frequency comb (FC) utilizing the Kerr nonlinearity. Most of the nonlinear materials used to build photonic platforms exhibit nonlinear losses such as multiphoton absorption, free-carrier absorption, and free-carrier dispersion which can strongly affect their nonlinear performances. In this work, we model the Kerr FC based on a modified Lugiato-Lefever equation (LLE) along with the rate equation and develop analytical formulations to make a quick estimation of the steady state, bistability, self-pulsation, and modulation instability (MI) gain and bandwidth in the presence of nonlinear losses. The analytical model is valid over a broad wavelength range as it includes the effects of all nonlinear losses. Higher-order (>3)characteristic polynomials of intracavity power describing the steady-state homogeneous solution of the modified LLE are discussed in detail. We derive the generalized analytical expressions for the threshold (normalized) pump detuning that initiates the optical bistability when nonlinear losses are present. Free-carrier dispersion-led nonlinear cavity detuning is observed through the reverse Kerr tilt of the resonant peaks. We further deduce the expressions of the threshold pump intensity and the range of possible cavity detuning for the initiation of the MI considering the presence of nonlinear losses. The proposed model will be helpful in explaining several numerical and experimental results which have been previously reported and thereby will be able to provide a better understanding of the comb dynamics.

Additional Information

© 2019 American Physical Society. Received 16 January 2019; published 25 March 2019. V.M. acknowledges financial support under the CSIR SRF-scheme from Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Government of India. The authors would also like to thank Dr. Samudra Roy, Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and Dr. Jae K. Jang, postdoctoral fellow, Columbia University, USA for their valuable discussions and suggestions related to the theoretical modeling of the frequency comb.

Attached Files

Published - PhysRevA.99.033848.pdf

Submitted - 1802.00391.pdf

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Created:
August 19, 2023
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October 20, 2023