Microwave generation on an optical carrier in micro-resonator chains

TL;DR

This paper investigates self-pulsing regimes in chains of Kerr nonlinear microresonators, revealing thresholdless frequency tripling and potential applications in microwave generation and conversion on optical carriers.

Contribution

It introduces a supermodal diagonalization method to analyze bifurcations in microresonator chains, predicting novel frequency tripling phenomena.

Findings

Robust self-pulsing regimes identified in microresonator chains.

Prediction of thresholdless frequency tripling at GHz.

Potential applications in microwave generation and conversion.

Abstract

We consider self-pulsing regimes in chains of Kerr nonlinear optical microresonators. By means of a supermodal diagonalization procedure of the conventional coupled-mode theory in time, we theoretically and numerically study the bifurcation diagrams of a singly pumped three-cavity and a doubly pumped four-cavity system: the latter allows us to predict thresholdless frequency tripling of a GHz modulation. These self-pulsing regimes are proven robust and will find applications in the generation and conversion of microwaves on an optical carrier.