Strong interactions between solitons and background light in Brillouin-Kerr microcombs

Area of Science:

• Nonlinear optics
• Quantum optics
• Integrated photonics

Background:

• Dissipative Kerr-soliton combs are laser pulses sustained by solitary waves in nonlinear resonators.
• Typically, interactions between background light and solitons are weak and localized.
• Strong interactions are crucial for advanced soliton dynamics and applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate a strong interaction between soliton combs and background light in a Brillouin-Kerr microcomb system.
• To achieve monostable single-soliton microcomb generation on a silicon chip.
• To enable deterministic turnkey operation and ultra-low-noise microwave signal generation.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing a Brillouin-Kerr microcomb system on a silicon chip.
• Engineering strong interactions between the generated soliton comb and background light.
• Operating the system without feedback controls.

Main Results:

• Generation of a monostable single-soliton microcomb.
• Observation of new phenomena: soliton hopping and pump power-controlled soliton states.
• Achieved 100% deterministic turnkey operation.
• Output of ultra-low-noise microwave signals from a free-running pump.

Conclusions:

• Strong light-soliton interactions in Brillouin-Kerr microcombs enable novel soliton dynamics.
• Monostable single-soliton microcombs facilitate deterministic, feedback-free operation.
• This system provides a pathway for generating high-quality, turnkey microwave signals.