Novel Microcomb Generation for Ultra-wide Bandwidth Applications
Harris Bayly
Characterising natural phenomena for its utilisation in optical communications.
Optical Micro-Resonators can be driven to provide very useful spectra. In particular, their generation of 'micro-combs' has suggested an application in optical communications, to provide a dense region of useful carrier frequencies. This in turn allows for very efficient, high speed data transmission. A key factor in progressing this technology is the characterisation of reliable and efficient states, as they rely on a complex combination of linear and non-linear effects.
This project aims to find reliable regions of operation for a novel type of micro-comb: a pulse driven soliton.
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Optical Micro-resonators are small devices whose physical properties can be used to create useful optical spectra. In particular, the devices can be exploited to produce 'Optical Micro-Combs' which are characterised in the frequency domain by many evenly and densely spaced peaks. These devices could provide a high density of carriers on which to modulate optical signals. This application would be efficient both in power consumption, size, as well as bandwidth usage.
This project looked at the generation of novel optical microcombs, namely producing a soliton regime in a Kerr Micro Ring Resonator (uRR) with the application of 'pulse pumping' in which the resonant structure is provided with a synchronised optical pulse train, as opposed to typical methods in which a continuous wave laser is used. Regimes of reliable operation are considered through numerical simulation based on both lab characterisation of a uRR as well as analytical approximations.
The advantages of pulse-driven solitons are demonstrated to be their high conversion efficiencies, as well as more robust operation than alternative states.