Direct fiber-coupled soliton microcomb system with enhanced stability and reproducibility via high numerical-aperture polarization-maintaining single-mode fibers and temperature control

TL;DR

This paper introduces a compact, stable soliton microcomb system using high-NA polarization-maintaining fibers and active temperature control, significantly improving robustness and reproducibility in fluctuating environments.

Contribution

It presents a novel fiber-coupled microcomb architecture with enhanced stability and simplified setup, outperforming previous methods in environmental robustness and long-term operation.

Findings

Achieved 57.7% coupling efficiency with stable soliton operation over 24 hours.

Reduced wavelength variation of lasers by 79% and 97% through temperature control.

Demonstrated superior environmental immunity compared to traditional coupling methods.

Abstract

We propose a compact and robust system architecture for soliton microcomb generation, based on two key techniques: direct fiber coupling using high numerical-aperture polarization-maintaining single-mode fibers (high-NA PMFs) and active temperature control of the microresonator. These complementary strategies address two major challenges in microcomb implementation: environmental sensitivity and resonance instability. Building on prior work using single-mode fiber (SMF)-based direct coupling, which demonstrated device miniaturization and partial suppression of thermal drift in coupling efficiency, our PMF-based approach offers enhanced thermal stability and significantly greater robustness to environmental disturbances such as temperature fluctuations and vibration. In our system, precision alignment using microscopes or multi-axis stages is no longer required, enabling a simplified optical setup and stable long-term operation. The direct coupling scheme achieved a coupling efficiency of 57.7% and maintained soliton operation for over 24 hours under external perturbations. In parallel, active temperature control of the microresonator was quantitatively evaluated, reducing the wavelength variation of the pump and auxiliary lasers by 79% and 97%, respectively. This stability enables reproducible soliton generation even in thermally dynamic environments. Comparative experiments with SMF-based direct coupling and lensed-SMF-based free-space coupling systems confirmed the superior performance of the PMF-based design in terms of coupling stability, soliton lifetime, and immunity to environmental noise. The architecture developed in this study lays a strong foundation for future integration into compact modules, paving the way for portable and robust microcomb sources in real-world photonic systems.