Author: victor

“Mexican wave” in microresonators

As I was thinking about a nice analogy of solitons in microresonators that would explain it to the layman, somehow the “Mexican wave” crossed my mind. Curiously, it did this while perfectly maintaining its shape.

Mexican Wave (By Eva Rinaldi - Big Day Out, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24788458)
Mexican Wave (By Eva Rinaldi – Big Day Out, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24788458)

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Publication Update No. 8

In the time from 2nd to 11th of May the following papers were published (in no particular order):

P.-H. Wang, et al., Opt. Exp. 24, 10890 (2016): Intracavity characterization of micro-comb generation in the single-soliton regime

V. Brasch, et al., Arxiv: 1605.02801 (2016): Self-referencing of an on-chip soliton Kerr frequency comb without external broadening

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Kerr frequency combs @ MFCA 2016 (6 to 10 July)

Group picture of the attendees of the MFCA2014 workshop.
Group picture of the attendees of the MFCA2014 workshop.

Well, as the MFCA spells out as “Nanotera workshop on Microresonator Frequency Combs: theory and Applications” it is basically all about Kerr frequency combs. See the program here.

From the first edition in 2014 (see picture above) I can say that I enjoyed seeing so many people who work in our field in one place. I was particularly happy about the more relaxed atmosphere compared to most conferences. Actually, the idea for this blog was born as an afterthought of the MFCA2014. It just took me some time to realize it.

Side note: the lake is only about 15min walk from the hotel but the water is pretty cold even during that time. So, think about bringing your wetsuit if you plan to go for a longer swim!

Disclaimer: I do my PhD in the group that is organizing this workshop.

Publication Update No. 7

In the time from 25th of April to 1st of May the following papers were published (in no particular order):

Missed before:

S.-W. Huang, et al., Science Adv. 2, e1501489: A broadband chip-scale optical frequency synthesizer at 2.7 × 10−16 relative uncertainty

Kerr comb specific:

M. Yu, et al., Arxiv: 1604.06501: Modelocked mid-infrared frequency combs in a silicon microresonator

 

Kerr frequency combs @ IFCS 2016 (9 to 12 May)

At this years International Frequency Control Symposium Kerr frequency combs are present with a focus session on Wednesday, 11 May starting at 10:10am and ending at 12:10pm. This session features the following presentations:

  • Kerry Vahala, Caltech:  New Directions for Optical Frequency Division: Soliton Microcombs and Electro-Optical-Modulation 
  • Andrey Matsko, OEwaves: Turn-Key Operation and Stabilization of Kerr Frequency Combs
  • Michal Lipson, Columbia:  High Quality On-Chip Resonators for Frequency Combs
  • Erwan Lucas, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL): Low Noise Microwave Generation via Temporal Soliton Formation in a Crystalline Optical Microresonator with a Narrow Linewidth Laser

State-of-the-art commercial optical data transmission

One often cited and also actively researched application for Kerr frequency combs is optical data transmission. Because of their large mode spacing, which is compatible with the ITU grid of 25, 50 or 100 GHz, Kerr frequency combs can make the ideal source for coherent data transmission. In principle it would be possible to replace several hundred individual lasers with one Kerr frequency comb. In addition it would be possible to use the coherence of the frequency comb lines to reduce effects of nonlinearity. However, before looking into the advantages of Kerr frequency combs for data transmission applications, I thought it would be a good idea to see, what the current, commercial technology is capable of. And I have to say, I am quite impressed. Here is some information about a recently installed sea fiber link in the Baltic Sea, the C-Lion-1: 15 TBits/s per fiber, 8 fibers, 120 TBits/s aggregated capacity! See below how this is achieved.

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Publication Update No. 6

In the time from 16th of April to 24th of April the following papers were published (in no particular order):

Missed before:

X. Xue, A. M. Weiner, Frontiers of Optoelectronics 9, 238: Microwave photonics connected with microresonator frequency combs

Kerr comb specific:

A. G. Griffith, et al., Arxiv: 1604.06436: Raman-assisted coherent, mid-infrared frequency combs in silicon microresonators.

J. Liu, et al., Arxiv: 1604.05149: Frequency Comb Assisted Broadband Precision Spectroscopy with Cascaded Diode Lasers.

X. Yi, et al., Opt. Lett. 41, 2037: Active capture and stabilization of temporal solitons in microresonators

F. Leo, PRA 93, 043831: Frequency-comb formation in doubly resonant second-harmonic generation

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Kerr frequency combs @ CLEO (5 to 10 June)

Dedicated sessions:

  • Monday 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM:
    FM2A. Microresonator and Combs
    Presider(s): Kerry Vahala
    Executive Ballroom 210A (Convention Center)
  • Tuesday 8:00 AM – 10:00 AM:
    STu1H. Micro Resonators and Kerr Combs
    Presider(s): Guanhao Wu
    Executive Ballroom 210H (Convention Center)
  • Tuesday 1:30 PM – 3:30 PM:
    STu3Q. Microresonator Combs I
    Presider(s): Miro Erkintalo
    Salon IV (Marriott)
  • Tuesday 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM:
    STu4Q. Microresonator Combs II
    Presider(s): Curtis Menyuk
    Salon IV (Marriott)
  • Wednesday 8:00 AM – 10:00 AM:
    SW1E. Microresonator Frequency Combs I
    Presider(s): Paulina Kuo
    Executive Ballroom 210E (Convention Center)

List of individual presentations below.

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