Generation and dynamics of solitonic pulses due to pump amplitude modulation at normal group velocity dispersion

TL;DR

This paper investigates the generation and control of platicons, a type of solitonic pulse, through pump amplitude modulation at normal group velocity dispersion, highlighting new methods for tuning and the influence of high-order dispersion.

Contribution

It introduces subharmonic phase modulation as a novel approach for platicon generation and explores how high-order dispersion affects their dynamics and tuning capabilities.

Findings

Subharmonic phase modulation enables platicon generation when direct modulation is limited.

Repetition rate of platicons can be controlled by tuning modulation frequency.

High-order dispersion significantly influences platicon properties and optimal generation conditions.

Abstract

We studied generation and dynamics of solitonic pulses, platicons, at normal group velocity dispersion due to the pump amplitude modulation. We proposed, that if the required frequency of amplitude modulation is too large for available modulators, it is possible to use subharmonic phase modulation for platicon generation. It was also demonstrated that it is possible to control the repetition rate of platicons by tuning modulation frequency. Tuning range for platicons was found to be much wider than for bright solitons. We also studied the influence of the high-order dispersion on platicon properties. It was shown that both third-order dispersion and pump modulation govern platicon dynamics making it quite different from dynamics of dissipative Kerr solitons. Third-order dispersion was also shown to affect significantly the optimal conditions for the platicon generation and repetition rate tuning range.