A continuum of bright and dark pulse states in a photonic-crystal resonator

Published

June 6, 2022

Author(s)

Su-Peng Yu, Erwan Lucas, Jizhao Zang, Scott Papp

Abstract

Nonlinearity is a powerful determinant of physical systems. Controlling nonlinearity leads to interesting states of matter and new applications. In optics, diverse families of continuous and discrete states arise from balance of nonlinearity and group-velocity dispersion (GVD). Moreover, the dichotomy of states with locally enhanced or diminished field intensity depends critically on the relative sign of nonlinearity and either anomalous or normal GVD. Here, we introduce a resonator with unconditionally normal GVD and a single defect mode that supports both dark, reduced-intensity states and bright, enhanced-intensity states. We access and explore this dark-to-bright pulse continuum by phase-matching with a photonic-crystal resonator, which mediates the competition of nonlinearity and normal GVD. These stationary temporal states are coherent frequency combs, featuring highly designable spectra and ultralow noise repetition-frequency and intensity characteristics. The dark-to-bright continuum illuminates physical roles of Kerr nonlinearity, GVD, and laser propagation in a gapped nanophotonic medium.

Citation

Nature Communications

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30774-x

Local Download

Citation

Yu, S. , Lucas, E. , Zang, J. and Papp, S. (2022), A continuum of bright and dark pulse states in a photonic-crystal resonator, Nature Communications, [online], https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30774-x, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=932801 (Accessed October 14, 2025)