Brillouin-Kerr Soliton Frequency Combs in an Optical Microresonator

By generating a Brillouin laser in an optical microresonator, we realize a soliton Kerr microcomb through exciting the Kerr frequency comb using the generated Brillouin laser in the same cavity. The intracavity Brillouin laser pumping scheme enables us to access the soliton states with a blue-detuned input pump. Because of the ultranarrow linewidth and the low-noise properties of the generated Brillouin laser, the observed soliton microcomb exhibits narrow-linewidth comb lines and stable repetition rate. Also, we demonstrate a low-noise microwave signal with phase noise of -49 dBc/Hz at 10 Hz, -130 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz, and -149 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offsets for a 10.43 GHz carrier with only a free-running input pump. The easy operation of the Brillouin-Kerr soliton microcomb with excellent performance makes our scheme promising for practical applications.

Automated summary

By generating a Brillouin laser in an optical microresonator and exciting the Kerr frequency comb in the same cavity, a soliton Kerr microcomb was achieved with narrow-linewidth comb lines and stable repetition rate. The system also demonstrated a low-noise microwave signal with excellent phase noise characteristics, showing promising practical applications.