Frequency stabilization and tuning of breathing soliton in SiN microresonators

TL;DR

This paper explores the stabilization and tunability of breathing dissipative Kerr solitons in silicon nitride microresonators, demonstrating control over their oscillation frequency and noise reduction, which advances their practical application potential.

Contribution

It introduces a method to lock and tune the breathing frequency of Kerr solitons using modulated pumping, addressing stability issues for future applications.

Findings

Breathing soliton period shows MHz uncertainties in simulations and experiments.

Modulated pump locks the breathing frequency to the modulation.

Tuning over tens of MHz with reduced frequency noise is achieved.

Abstract

Dissipative Kerr soliton offers broadband coherent and low-noise frequency comb and stable temporal pulse train, having shown great potential applications in spectroscopy, communications, and metrology. Breathing soliton is a particular dissipative Kerr soliton that the pulse duration and peak intensity show periodic oscillation. However, the noise and stability of the breathing soliton is still remaining unexplored, which would be the main obstacle for future applications. Here, we have investigated the breathing dissipative Kerr solitons in the silicon nitride (SiN) microrings, while the breather period shows uncertainties around MHz in both simulation and experiments. By applying a modulated pump, the breathing frequency can be injectively locked to the modulation and tuned over tens of MHz with frequency noise significantly suppressed. Our demonstration offers an alternative knob for the controlling of soliton dynamics in microresonator and paves a new avenue towards practical applications of breathing soliton.