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

Opt Lett. 2013 Dec 1;38(23):5122-5. doi: 10.1364/OL.38.005122.

Abstract

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.