On phase-locking of Kerr combs

TL;DR

This paper analyzes phase-locking in Kerr optical frequency combs, revealing that Turing patterns exhibit strong, robust phase-locking suitable for stable applications, unlike solitons which are more fragile.

Contribution

The study provides a theoretical framework for understanding phase-locking in Kerr combs, highlighting the robustness of Turing patterns and their potential for high-stability applications.

Findings

Turing patterns show strong, robust phase-locking.

Solitons have weaker, easily disrupted phase-locking.

Experimental results agree with numerical simulations.

Abstract

We theoretically investigate the phase-locking phenomena between the spectral components of Kerr optical frequency combs in the dynamical regime of Turing patterns. We show that these Turing patterns display a particularly strong and robust phase-locking, originating from a cascade of phase-locked triplets which asymptotically lead to a global phase-locking between the modes. The local and global phase-locking relationship defining the shape of the optical pulses are analytically determined. Our analysis also shows that solitons display a much weaker phase-locking which can be destroyed more easily than in the Turing pattern regime. Our results indicate that Turing patterns are generally the most suitable for applications requiring the highest stability. Experimental generation of such combs is also discussed in detail, in excellent agreement with the numerical simulations.