Kerr-microresonator solitons from a chirped background

TL;DR

This paper introduces a phase modulation technique to reliably generate and control single Kerr solitons in microresonators, enhancing the stability and tunability of microcombs for integrated photonics.

Contribution

The study demonstrates a novel phase modulation method that lifts multi-soliton degeneracy, enabling direct excitation and precise control of single Kerr solitons in microresonators.

Findings

Single soliton formation is achieved using phase modulation.

The technique extends to high repetition-frequency solitons.

Measured dynamics match simulations closely.

Abstract

We demonstrate protected single-soliton formation and operation in a Kerr microresonator using a phase-modulated pump laser. Phase modulation gives rise to spatially varying effective loss and detuning parameters, which in turn lead to an operation regime in which multi-soliton degeneracy is lifted and a single soliton is the only observable behavior. Direct excitation of single solitons is indicated by observed reversal of the characteristic 'soliton step.' Phase modulation also enables precise control of the soliton pulse train's properties, and measured dynamics agree closely with simulations. We show that the technique can be extended to high repetition-frequency Kerr solitons through subharmonic phase modulation. These results facilitate straightforward generation and control of Kerr-soliton microcombs for integrated photonics systems.