Hu Futai, Vinod Abhinav Kumar, Wang Wenting, Chin Hsiao-Hsuan, McMillan James F, Zhan Ziyu, Meng Yuan, Gong Mali, Wong Chee Wei
Fang Lu Mesoscopic Optics and Quantum Electronics Laboratory, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
State Key Laboratory of Precision Measurement Technology and Instruments, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
Light Sci Appl. 2024 Sep 12;13(1):251. doi: 10.1038/s41377-024-01573-4.
Solitons, the distinct balance between nonlinearity and dispersion, provide a route toward ultrafast electromagnetic pulse shaping, high-harmonic generation, real-time image processing, and RF photonic communications. Here we uniquely explore and observe the spatio-temporal breather dynamics of optical soliton crystals in frequency microcombs, examining spatial breathers, chaos transitions, and dynamical deterministic switching - in nonlinear measurements and theory. To understand the breather solitons, we describe their dynamical routes and two example transitional maps of the ensemble spatial breathers, with and without chaos initiation. We elucidate the physical mechanisms of the breather dynamics in the soliton crystal microcombs, in the interaction plane limit cycles and in the domain-wall understanding with parity symmetry breaking from third-order dispersion. We present maps of the accessible nonlinear regions, the breather frequency dependences on third-order dispersion and avoided-mode crossing strengths, and the transition between the collective breather spatio-temporal states. Our range of measurements matches well with our first-principles theory and nonlinear modeling. To image these soliton ensembles and their breathers, we further constructed panoramic temporal imaging for simultaneous fast- and slow-axis two-dimensional mapping of the breathers. In the phase-differential sampling, we present two-dimensional evolution maps of soliton crystal breathers, including with defects, in both stable breathers and breathers with drift. Our fundamental studies contribute to the understanding of nonlinear dynamics in soliton crystal complexes, their spatio-temporal dependences, and their stability-existence zones.
孤子是非线性与色散之间独特的平衡，为超快电磁脉冲整形、高次谐波产生、实时图像处理和射频光子通信提供了一条途径。在此，我们独特地探索并观测了频率微梳中光孤子晶体的时空呼吸子动力学，在非线性测量和理论中研究了空间呼吸子、混沌转变以及动态确定性切换。为了理解呼吸子孤子，我们描述了它们的动力学路径以及有或无混沌起始的整体空间呼吸子的两个示例过渡图。我们阐明了孤子晶体微梳中呼吸子动力学、相互作用平面极限环以及具有由三阶色散导致的宇称对称性破缺的畴壁理解中的物理机制。我们展示了可及非线性区域的图、呼吸子频率对三阶色散和避免模式交叉强度的依赖性，以及集体呼吸子时空状态之间的转变。我们的测量范围与我们的第一性原理理论和非线性建模非常匹配。为了对这些孤子系综及其呼吸子进行成像，我们进一步构建了全景时间成像，用于同时对呼吸子进行快轴和慢轴二维映射。在相差采样中，我们展示了孤子晶体呼吸子的二维演化图，包括有缺陷的情况，涵盖稳定呼吸子和有漂移的呼吸子。我们的基础研究有助于理解孤子晶体复合体中的非线性动力学、它们的时空依赖性以及它们的稳定性 - 存在区域。
