Thermal instabilities, frequency-comb formation, and temporal oscillations in Kerr microresonators

2020/11/18 by Amir Leshem, Zhen Qi, Thomas F. Carruthers +2 · 20 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Fiber Laser Technologies #Frequency comb #Laser #Materials science #Mechanical and Optical Resonators #Optics #Photonic and Optical Devices #Physics #Thermal #Thermodynamics #nlin.PS #physics.app-ph #physics.optics

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreva.103.013512

published in Physical Review A 103(1) (American Physical Society) · 21 pages, 5 figures, submitted to PRA

arxiv created 2020/11/18 · openalex created_date 2020/11/23 · openalex publication_date 2021/01/13 · arxiv updated 2021/01/20 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06

Abstract

We analyze the consequences of dissipative heating in driven Kerr microresonators theoretically and numerically, using a thermal Lugiato-Lefever model. We show that thermal sensitivity modifies the stability range of continuous waves in a way that blocks direct access to broadband frequency-comb-forming waveforms, and we propose a deterministic access path that bypasses the thermal instability barrier. We describe a thermal instability that leads to thermo-optical oscillations via a Hopf bifurcation.

Citations

• Solitons and frequency combs in silica microring resonators: Interplay of the Raman and higher-order dispersion effects
• Modal expansion approach to optical-frequency-comb generation with monolithic whispering-gallery-mode resonators
• Spatiotemporal Model for Kerr Comb Generation in Whispering Gallery Mode Resonators
• Micro-combs: A novel generation of optical sources