Photonic Flywheel in a Monolithic Fiber Resonator

Physical Review Letters · 2020 · 85 citations

• Computer Science
• Physics
• Optics

We demonstrate the first compact photonic flywheel with sub-fs time jitter (averaging times up to 10 μs) at the quantum-noise limit of a monolithic fiber resonator. Such quantum-limited performance is accessed through novel two-step pumping scheme for dissipative Kerr soliton generation. Controllable interaction between stimulated Brillouin lasing and Kerr nonlinearity enhances the DKS coherence and mitigates the thermal instability challenge, achieving a remarkable 22-Hz intrinsic comb linewidth and an unprecedented phase noise of -180 dBc/Hz at 945-MHz carrier at free running. The scheme can be generalized to various device platforms for field-deployable precision metrology.

Electrically controllable laser frequency combs in graphene-fibre microresonators

Light Science & Applications · 2020 · 88 citations

• Optoelectronics
• Materials science
• Optics

Bidirectional mode-locked all-normal dispersion fiber laser

Optica · 2020 · 100 citations

• Computer Science
• Materials science
• Optics

The bidirectional mode-locked oscillator is an emerging light source architecture suitable for dual-comb applications. Therein, bidirectional mode-locked fiber lasers (MLFLs) are particularly promising for their cost effectiveness, system compactness, and environmental robustness. However, the pulse energy has been limited to tens of picojoules, restricting practical dual-comb applications, especially in the nonlinear regime. In this paper, we break the pulse energy limit by devising the first bidirectional all-normal dispersion MLFL with an artificial saturable absorber (ASA). Bidirectional dissipative solitons are generated with <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mo>&gt;</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mn>5</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> -THz bandwidths and <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mo>&gt;</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> -nJ pulse energies. Free-running laser performance is extensively characterized, and the physical mechanism for bidirectional ASA mode-locking is studied. Last but not least, a proof-of-concept dual-comb spectroscopy measurement is demonstrated. Our work paves the way for a new class of bidirectional MLFLs benefiting dual-comb applications in both linear and nonlinear regimes.