Abstract
Passive Kerr cavities driven by coherent laser fields display a rich landscape of nonlinear physics, including bistability, pattern formation, and localised dissipative structures (solitons). Their conceptual simplicity has for several decades offered an unprecedented window into nonlinear cavity dynamics, providing insights into numerous systems and applications ranging from all-optical memory devices to microresonator frequency combs. Yet despite the decades of study, a recent theoretical study has surprisingly alluded to an entirely new and unexplored paradigm in the regime where nonlinearly tilted cavity resonances overlap with one another [T. Hansson and S. Wabnitz, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 32, 1259 (2015)]. We have used synchronously driven fiber ring resonators to experimentally access this regime, and observed the rise of new nonlinear dissipative states. Specifically, we have observed, for the first time to the best of our knowledge, the stable coexistence of dissipative (cavity) solitons and extended modulation instability (Turing) patterns, and performed real time measurements that unveil the dynamics of the ensuing nonlinear structures. When operating in the regime of continuous wave tristability, we have further observed the coexistence of two distinct cavity soliton states, one of which can be identified as a "super" cavity soliton as predicted by Hansson and Wabnitz. Our experimental findings are in excellent agreement with theoretical analyses and numerical simulations of the infinite-dimensional Ikeda map that governs the cavity dynamics. The results from our work reveal that experimental systems can support complex combinations of distinct nonlinear states, and they could have practical implications to future microresonator-based frequency comb sources.
Highlights
Beginning with theoretical studies of bistability [1], the behavior and dynamics of externally driven nonlinear optical cavities have been extensively investigated for almost 50 years
We report the first combined experimental and theoretical study of Kerr cavity dynamics in the strongly nonlinear regime, where adjacent cavity resonances overlap
We demonstrate how new combinations of nonlinear states may emerge in this regime, and how they can be understood as mixed states composed of structures associated with individual resonances
Summary
Beginning with theoretical studies of bistability [1], the behavior and dynamics of externally driven nonlinear optical cavities have been extensively investigated for almost 50 years. The Kerr cavity model has offered an unparalleled window into complex cavity dynamics It has played a “decisive role in promoting the field of optical pattern formation” [8], and in elucidating the intimately related emergence of localized dissipative structures commonly referred to (in optics) as cavity solitons (CSs) [14,15]. We report on the first combined experimental and theoretical study of passive Kerr cavity dynamics in the strong-driving regime, as characterized by nonlinear phase shifts in the vicinity of 2π and beyond. Our experiments are performed using synchronously driven optical fiber ring resonators, and we observe new nonlinear behaviors emblematic of the strong-driving regime: coexistence of distinct dissipative structures associated with adjacent, nonlinearly overlapping cavity resonances.
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