École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Russian Quantum Center, Skolkovo 143025, Russia. Faculty of Physics, M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow 119991, Russia.
Science. 2016 Jan 22;351(6271):357-60. doi: 10.1126/science.aad4811. Epub 2015 Dec 31.
Optical solitons are propagating pulses of light that retain their shape because nonlinearity and dispersion balance each other. In the presence of higher-order dispersion, optical solitons can emit dispersive waves via the process of soliton Cherenkov radiation. This process underlies supercontinuum generation and is of critical importance in frequency metrology. Using a continuous wave-pumped, dispersion-engineered, integrated silicon nitride microresonator, we generated continuously circulating temporal dissipative Kerr solitons. The presence of higher-order dispersion led to the emission of red-shifted soliton Cherenkov radiation. The output corresponds to a fully coherent optical frequency comb that spans two-thirds of an octave and whose phase we were able to stabilize to the sub-Hertz level. By preserving coherence over a broad spectral bandwidth, our device offers the opportunity to develop compact on-chip frequency combs for frequency metrology or spectroscopy.
光孤子是传播的光脉冲，由于非线性和色散相互平衡，它们保持其形状。在存在高阶色散的情况下，光孤子可以通过孤子切伦科夫辐射过程发射离散波。这个过程是超连续谱产生的基础，在频率计量中至关重要。我们使用连续波泵浦、色散工程化的集成氮化硅微谐振器，产生了连续循环的时间耗散克尔孤子。高阶色散的存在导致了红移孤子切伦科夫辐射的发射。输出对应于一个完全相干的光频梳，跨越了两个八度的三分之二，我们能够将其相位稳定到亚赫兹水平。通过在宽光谱带宽上保持相干性，我们的器件为用于频率计量或光谱学的紧凑型片上频梳提供了机会。
