Generation of two-cycle pulses and octave-spanning frequency combs in a dispersion-flattened micro-resonator

We show that octave-spanning Kerr frequency combs with improved spectral flatness of comb lines can be generated in dispersion-flattened microring resonators. The resonator is formed by a strip/slot hybrid waveguide, exhibiting a flat and low anomalous dispersion between two zero-dispersion wavelengths that are separated by one octave from near-infrared to mid-infrared. Such flattened dispersion profiles allow for the generation of mode-locked frequency combs, using relatively low pump power to obtain two-cycle cavity solitons on a chip, associated with the octave-spanning comb bandwidth. The wavelength dependence of the optical loss and of the coupling coefficient and thus wavelength dependent Q-factor are also considered. (C) 2013 Optical Society of America