Kerr parametric oscillations and frequency comb generation from dispersion compensated silica micro-bubble resonators

Area of Science:

• Photonics and Optical Engineering
• Materials Science

Background:

• Silica micro-bubble resonators (MBRs) are advanced optical devices.
• Achieving high cavity quality factors is crucial for nonlinear optical processes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To fabricate silica MBRs with ultra-high quality factors.
• To analyze the dispersion properties of MBRs for nonlinear applications.
• To demonstrate nonlinear optical phenomena in MBRs.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of silica micro-bubble resonators.
• Analysis of resonator total dispersion.
• Experimental observation of Kerr parametric oscillation and frequency comb generation.

Main Results:

• Fabricated MBRs with a quality factor (Q) as high as 5 × 10^7.
• Identified a new anomalous dispersion window due to the thin-wall structure.
• Achieved Kerr parametric oscillation and frequency comb generation in a 136 μm MBR.
• Demonstrated that similar nonlinear processes are not possible in solid silica spheres below 150 μm.

Conclusions:

• The thin-wall structure of MBRs enables anomalous dispersion for dispersion compensation.
• MBRs are suitable platforms for nonlinear optical processes like Kerr parametric oscillation and frequency comb generation.
• Silica MBRs offer advantages over solid spheres for specific nonlinear optical applications.