Description
The generation of coherent frequency combs via the excitation of temporal cavity solitons in passive Kerr resonators is a well-established phenomenon. While temporal cavity solitons offer broadband spectra, they can suffer from temporal jitter and require stringent control of parameters for stable operation. Alternatively, pulsed-driven Kerr resonators operating in the normal dispersion regime can generate a more stable frequency comb by generating a switching wave. On the other hand, recent developments have been utilising soliton linear-wave interaction via secondary field injection for spectral expansion of Kerr combs.
Building on these two concepts, i.e., switching wave generation and soliton linear-wave interaction, we investigate the nonlinear interaction between a switching wave and a linear-wave within a fibre based passive Kerr resonator. Similar to soliton linear-wave interaction in passive resonators, we derive the phase-matching condition for the newly generated idler wave under pulsed pumping. Particularly, by incorporating the temporal desynchronisation of the pulsed pump, we derive and numerically verify the tunable phase-matched frequency of the idler wave.
To further validate this nonlinear phenomenon, we experimentally demonstrate this switching wave linear-wave interaction by driving an erbium-doped fiber Fabry–Pérot resonator with a pulsed pump in the telecommunications band. The pulsed pump is generated via electro-optic modulation and nonlinear compression. The pulsed pump spectroscopically excites a lasing component, and this lasing component acts as the linear-wave and interacts with the switching wave excited simultaneously by the pulsed pump. We observe both the dispersive wave emitted by the switching wave and the idler wave resulting from the interaction, further validating our phase-matching condition.
The switching wave linear-wave interaction offers a compelling alternative for stable Kerr frequency comb generation and provides an extra degree of freedom on the phase-matched idler wave frequency via pump desynchronisation.
| I am the presenting author | Yes |
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