Adiabatic and Deterministic Routes to Soliton Combs in Non-Hermitian Kerr Cavities

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new method for adiabatically and reversibly exciting solitons in Kerr micro-resonators by using a non-Hermitian potential, leading to high-efficiency frequency combs in normal dispersion cavities.

Contribution

It demonstrates a novel snaking-free bifurcation landscape enabling continuous connection of solitons of all widths via cavity detuning changes.

Findings

Revealed a new bifurcation structure reshaping soliton dynamics.

Achieved high pump-to-comb conversion efficiencies.

Enabled deterministic and reversible soliton excitation.

Abstract

We present a cardinal solution for the long-standing and fundamental problem associated with the adiabatic, reversible, and controlled excitation of both dark and bright solitons in Kerr micro-resonators with normal group velocity dispersion. Our findings stem from the inclusion of a localised non-Hermitian potential, which we use to drastically reshape the characteristic collapsed snaking structure associated with such solitons. Consequently, we demonstrate a novel snaking-free bifurcation landscape where solitons of all possible widths are continuously connected via the dynamic change of the cavity detuning, and hence dissipative localised states of unprecedentedly high pump-to-comb conversion efficiencies can be excited in an adiabatic, deterministic, and reversible fashion. Our fundamental discovery has practical implications of paramount importance for frequency comb generation in all-normal dispersion cavities, which are key to comb generation in most spectral regions away from the telecom bands.