Parametric instability in coupled nonlinear microcavities

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates parametric instability in two coupled Kerr microresonators driven by a laser, leading to self-sustained oscillations, modeled with semiclassical equations, highlighting potential for integrated optical parametric oscillator networks.

Contribution

It provides the first experimental observation and comprehensive modeling of parametric instability in coupled nonlinear microcavities, advancing integrated photonics applications.

Findings

Observation of intense sideband modes indicating instability

Modeling with semiclassical Langevin equations matches experimental data

Potential for scalable integrated optical parametric oscillator networks

Abstract

We report the observation of a parametric instability in the out-of-equilibrium steady state of two coupled Kerr microresonators coherently driven by a laser. Using a resonant excitation, we drive the system into an unstable regime, where we observe the appearance of intense and well resolved sideband modes in the emission spectrum. This feature is a characteristic signature of self-sustained oscillations of the intracavity field. We comprehensively model our findings using semiclassical Langevin equations for the cavity field dynamics combined with a linear stability analysis. The inherent scalability of our semiconductor platform, enriched with a strong Kerr nonlinearity, is promising for the realization of integrated optical parametric oscillator networks operating in a few-photon regime.