Modeling Kerr frequency combs using the Lugiato-Lefever equation: a characterization of the multistable landscape

P. Parra-Rivas; D. Gomila; M. A. Matias; F. Leo; S. Coen; L. Gelens

doi:10.1117/12.2052383

1 May 2014 Modeling Kerr frequency combs using the Lugiato-Lefever equation: a characterization of the multistable landscape

P. Parra-Rivas, D. Gomila, M. A. Matias, F. Leo, S. Coen, L. Gelens

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 9136, Nonlinear Optics and Its Applications VIII; and Quantum Optics III; 91361V (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2052383
Event: SPIE Photonics Europe, 2014, Brussels, Belgium

Abstract

Optical frequency combs can be used to measure light frequencies and time intervals more easily and precisely than ever before, opening a large avenue for applications. Traditional frequency combs are usually associated with trains of evenly spaced, very short pulses. More recently, a new generation of comb sources has been demonstrated in compact high-Q optical microresonators with a Kerr nonlinearity pumped by continuous-wave laser light. These combs are now referred to as Kerr frequency combs and have attracted a lot of interest in the last few years. Kerr frequency combs can be modeled in a way that is strongly reminiscent of temporal cavity solitons (CSs) in nonlinear cavities. Temporal CSs have been experimentally studied in fiber resonators and their description is based on a now classical equation, the Lugiato-Lefever equation, that describes pattern formation in optical systems. In this work, we first perform a theoretical study of the correspondence between the CSs and patterns with frequency combs. It is known that the CSs appear in reversible systems that present bistability between a pattern and a homogeneous steady state through what it is called a homoclinic snaking structure. In this snaking region, single and multi-peak CSs coexist with patterns and homogeneous solutions, creating a largely multistable landscape. We study the changes of the homoclinic snaking for different parameter regimes in the Lugiato-Lefever equation and determine the stability and shape of the frequency combs through comparison with the underlying CSs and patterns. Secondly, we include third order dispersion in the system and study its effect on the multistable snaking structure. For high dispersion strengths the CS structures and the corresponding Kerr frequency combs disappear.

Citation Download Citation

P. Parra-Rivas, D. Gomila, M. A. Matias, F. Leo, S. Coen, and L. Gelens "Modeling Kerr frequency combs using the Lugiato-Lefever equation: a characterization of the multistable landscape", Proc. SPIE 9136, Nonlinear Optics and Its Applications VIII; and Quantum Optics III, 91361V (1 May 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2052383

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