Real-time dynamics and cross-correlation gating spectroscopy of free-carrier Drude slow-light solitons

TL;DR

This paper explores the real-time dynamics of free-carrier induced slow-light solitons in silicon photonic waveguides, revealing stability limits, acceleration effects, and perturbations with high temporal resolution and theoretical support.

Contribution

It introduces a novel experimental approach combining real-time spectroscopy and cross-correlation gating to study free-carrier effects on solitons at picojoule energies, supported by detailed modeling.

Findings

Demonstrated soliton stability limits in silicon slow-light waveguides.

Observed free-carrier induced acceleration and perturbations on Cherenkov radiation.

Achieved femtosecond resolution measurements at femtojoule sensitivity.

Abstract

Optical solitons-stable waves balancing delicately between nonlinearities and dispersive effects-have advanced the field of ultrafast optics and dynamics, with contributions spanning supercontinuum generation and soliton fission, to optical event horizon, Hawking radiation, and optical rogue waves, amongst others. Here we investigate picojoule soliton dynamics in silicon slow-light photonic-bandgap waveguides under the influence of Drude-modeled free-carrier induced nonlinear effects. Using real-time and single shot amplified dispersive Fourier transform spectroscopy simultaneously with high-fidelity cross-correlation frequency-resolved optical gating at femtojoule sensitivity and femtosecond resolution, we examine the soliton stability limits, the soliton dynamics including free-carrier quartic slow-light scaling and acceleration, and the Drude electron-hole-plasma induced perturbations on Cherenkov radiation and modulation instability. Our real-time single shot and time-averaged cross-correlation measurements are matched with our detailed theoretical modeling, examining the reduced group velocity free-carrier kinetics on solitons at picojoule.