[Paper Review] Emission of intense resonant radiation by dispersion-managed Kerr cavity solitons

Alexander U. Nielsen, Bruno Garbin+3 more|arXiv (Cornell University)|Sep 20, 2018

Advanced Fiber Laser Technologies47 references4 citations

TL;DR

This study experimentally and numerically demonstrates that dispersion management in fiber ring resonators significantly amplifies Kelly-like resonant radiation sidebands emitted by temporal Kerr cavity solitons. The sideband amplitude increases with pump-cavity detuning due to phase-matching conditions, ultimately limiting the stable operating range of solitons, with excellent agreement between experiment and simulation.

ABSTRACT

We report on an experimental and numerical study of temporal Kerr cavity soliton dynamics in dispersion-managed fiber ring resonators. We find that dispersion management can significantly magnify the Kelly-like resonant radiation sidebands emitted by the solitons. Because of the underlying phase-matching conditions, the sideband amplitudes tend to increase with increasing pump-cavity detuning, ultimately limiting the range of detunings over which the solitons can exist. Our experimental findings show excellent agreement with numerical simulations.

Motivation & Objective

• To investigate the impact of dispersion management on resonant radiation emission by temporal Kerr cavity solitons in fiber ring resonators.
• To determine how phase-matching conditions and detuning affect sideband amplitude in dispersion-managed systems.
• To explore the limits of soliton existence under increasing detuning due to amplified radiation.
• To validate experimental findings with numerical simulations based on the generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation.
• To assess the implications for microresonator-based frequency comb systems with engineered dispersion profiles.

Proposed method

• Experimental setup using a dispersion-managed fiber ring resonator with 90 m standard single-mode fiber (SMF) and 5 m dispersion-shifted fiber (DSF), yielding net anomalous group-velocity dispersion (GVD).
• Use of a Mach-Zehnder amplitude modulator and acousto-optic modulator for precise pump control and spectral filtering.
• Employment of a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller to stabilize the cavity and maintain soliton operation.
• Optical spectrum analysis and autocorrelation measurements to characterize soliton spectra and temporal profiles.
• Numerical simulations based on the generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation including third-order dispersion and dispersion management effects.
• Systematic variation of pump-cavity detuning and fiber length ratios to probe sideband growth and soliton stability.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 How does dispersion management affect the amplitude of Kelly-like resonant radiation sidebands emitted by Kerr cavity solitons?
• RQ2 What is the role of pump-cavity detuning in modulating sideband intensity and soliton stability?
• RQ3 To what extent can dispersion management suppress or enhance resonant radiation compared to uniform resonators?
• RQ4 How do higher-order dispersion terms influence sideband generation in low-net-GVD regimes?
• RQ5 Can experimental observations of sideband amplification be accurately reproduced by numerical simulations?

Key findings

• Dispersion management significantly amplifies Kelly-like resonant radiation sidebands in temporal Kerr cavity solitons, analogous to parametric instability enhancement in normal-GVD systems.
• Sideband amplitude increases with pump-cavity detuning due to phase-matching conditions, ultimately limiting the range of stable soliton operation.
• Experiments show excellent agreement with numerical simulations, confirming the role of dispersion management in sideband enhancement.
• In low-net-GVD regimes (⟨β₂⟩ ≈ -0.8 ps²/km), sidebands remain strong due to third-order dispersion, which cannot be neglected.
• Numerical simulations confirm that third-order dispersion is responsible for residual sidebands when net GVD approaches zero.
• Complete suppression of resonant radiation would require additional management of higher-order dispersion terms beyond current dispersion engineering.