2018/10/31 by Arslan S. Raja, Andrey S. Voloshin, Hairun Guo +11 · 227 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Fiber Laser Technologies #Diode #Dissipative soliton #Dissipative system #Laser #Laser diode #Mode-locking #Modulation (music) #Nonlinear Photonic Systems #Photonic Crystal and Fiber Optics #Photonics #Semiconductor laser theory #Soliton #physics.app-ph #physics.optics
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/s41467-019-08498-2
published in Nature Communications 10(1), 680 (Nature Portfolio) · The work is subject to an International Patent Application No. PCT/EP2018/075020
openalex created_date 2018/10/26 · arxiv created 2018/11/21 · openalex publication_date 2019/02/08 · arxiv updated 2019/02/12 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Abstract Microcombs provide a path to broad-bandwidth integrated frequency combs with low power consumption, which are compatible with wafer-scale fabrication. Yet, electrically-driven, photonic chip-based microcombs are inhibited by the required high threshold power and the frequency agility of the laser for soliton initiation. Here we demonstrate an electrically-driven soliton microcomb by coupling a III–V-material-based (indium phosphide) multiple-longitudinal-mode laser diode chip to a high- Q silicon nitride microresonator fabricated using the photonic Damascene process. The laser diode is self-injection locked to the microresonator, which is accompanied by the narrowing of the laser linewidth, and the simultaneous formation of dissipative Kerr solitons. By tuning the laser diode current, we observe transitions from modulation instability, breather solitons, to single-soliton states. The system operating at an electronically-detectable sub-100-GHz mode spacing requires less than 1 Watt of electrical power, can fit in a volume of ca. 1 cm 3 , and does not require on-chip filters and heaters, thus simplifying the integrated microcomb.