Controlling microresonator solitons with the counter-propagating pump

TL;DR

This paper develops a simplified model for controlling microresonator solitons using bidirectional pumping, demonstrating non-reciprocal effects and the existence of soliton crystals and breathers.

Contribution

It introduces a concise derivation of the model equations for bidirectional pumping, enabling effective soliton control and revealing non-reciprocal behaviors and complex soliton states.

Findings

Non-reciprocal response during forward and backward frequency scans

Observation of soliton crystals and breathers near blockade intervals

Effective control of solitons via frequency sweeping of counter-propagating waves

Abstract

Considering a bidirectionally pumped ring microresonator, we provide a concise derivation of the model equations allowing us to eliminate the repetition rate terms and reduce the nonlinear interaction between the counter-propagating waves to the power-dependent shifts of the resonance frequencies. We present the simulation results of the soliton control by swiping the frequency of the counter-propagating wave in the forward and backward directions and with the soliton-blockade effect either present or not. We highlight the non-reciprocity of the forward and backward scans. Furthermore, we report the soliton crystals and breathers existing in the vicinity of the blockade interval.