Parametrically tunable soliton-induced resonant radiation by three-wave mixing

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that a temporal soliton can induce parametrically tunable resonant radiation through three-wave mixing nonlinearities, significantly extending supercontinuum bandwidths into the mid-IR range.

Contribution

It introduces a new class of resonant radiation induced by three-wave mixing in solitons, with spectral positions that are tunable via phase-matching conditions.

Findings

Resonant radiation observed at calculated phase-matching wavelengths.

Supercontinuum bandwidth extended into 550-5000 nm range.

Mid-IR edge tunable over 1000 nm by adjusting phase-matching.

Abstract

We show that a temporal soliton can induce resonant radiation by three-wave mixing nonlinearities. This constitutes a new class of resonant radiation whose spectral positions are parametrically tunable. The experimental verification is done in a periodically poled lithium niobate crystal, where a femtosecond near-IR soliton is excited and resonant radiation waves are observed exactly at the calculated soliton phase-matching wavelengths via the sum- and difference-frequency generation nonlinearities. This extends the supercontinuum bandwidth well into the mid-IR to span 550-5000 nm and the mid-IR edge is parametrically tunable over 1000 nm by changing the three-wave mixing phase-matching condition. The results are important for bright and broadband supercontinuum generation and for frequency comb generation in quadratic nonlinear microresonators.