Multicolor Bound Soliton Molecule

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new class of multicolor bound soliton molecules in nonlinear optical cavities, demonstrating their unique spectral locking and potential for advanced frequency comb applications.

Contribution

It presents the discovery of multicolor bound soliton molecules with distinctive spectral locking and spectrum management capabilities in driven nonlinear optical cavities.

Findings

Existence of multicolor bound soliton molecules in optical cavities

Spectral locking characteristics of the soliton molecules

Potential for multi-octave spanning frequency combs

Abstract

We show a new class of bound soliton molecule that exists in a parametrically driven nonlinear optical cavity with appropriate dispersion characteristics. The composed solitons exhibit distinctive colors but coincide in time and share a common phase, bound together via strong inter-soliton four-wave mixing and Cherenkov radiation. The multicolor bound soliton molecule shows intriguing spectral locking characteristics and remarkable capability of spectrum management to tailor soliton frequencies, which may open up a great avenue towards versatile generation and manipulation of multi-octave spanning phase-locked Kerr frequency combs, with great potential for applications in frequency metrology, optical frequency synthesis, and spectroscopy.