Pulse Train Triggered Single Dissipative Kerr Soliton in Microresonator and Application in Terahertz Rate Optical Clock Recovery

Single dissipative Kerr soliton (DKS) formed in microresonator shows few-cycle femtosecond pulses along with smooth and phase-coherent comb spectra that easily reaching an octave spanning. Such unique characteristics lead to revolutionary breakthrough in advanced communications, spectroscopy, metrology, etc. However, as hidden deepest inside the multistable states of driven-damped microresonator, the single DKS state remains challenging to generate deterministically and straightforwardly. Here, we theoretically show that a train of energetic pulse trigger imposed on an external continuous-wave driving pump can quickly kick start the cavity to deterministically evolve into a single DKS state. Neither the pump frequency nor the cavity resonance frequency requires to be scanned, thus possessing the potential for turnkey soliton microcombs generation. The additional degrees of freedom given by the combined pump enables the manipulation of multi-DKS and even perfect soliton crystals generation in the same microresonator. The proposed pulse train triggering method can also be harnessed for ultrahigh speed all-optical clock recovery with a potential rate up to terahertz. Our results open up a new path for manipulating single and multi-DKS in microesonators and a robust optical clock recovery module simultaneously possessing ultrahigh speed, on-chip integration, and cost-efficiency.

Automated summary

A single dissipative Kerr soliton (DKS) formed in a microresonator exhibits unique characteristics, allowing for the generation of few-cycle femtosecond pulses and smooth, phase-coherent comb spectra, leading to revolutionary breakthroughs in various fields. By applying a train of energetic pulses to an external continuous-wave driving pump, the cavity can deterministically evolve into a single DKS state without the need to scan the pump or cavity resonance frequencies. This method also allows for the manipulation of multi-DKS and perfect soliton crystals generation, and has the potential for ultrahigh speed all-optical clock recovery.