Temporal dissipative structures in optical Kerr resonators with transient loss fluctuation.

Abstract

Dissipative structures are the result of spontaneous symmetry breaking in a dynamic open system, which is induced by either the nonlinear effect or loss fluctuations. While optical temporal dissipative solitons in nonlinear Kerr cavities has been widely studied, their operation is limited to the red-detuned regime. Here, we demonstrate an emergent dissipative soliton state in optical nonlinear cavities in the presence of loss fluctuations, which is accessible by self-evolution of the system on resonance. Based on a modified dissipative and Kerr-nonlinear cavity model, we numerically investigate the effect of the loss modulation on the intracavity field pattern, and in transmission observe a single and bright soliton pulse state at the zero detuning. The effect of the optical saturable absorption is also numerically investigated, which is recognized as an effective approach to the transient loss fluctuation in the cavity. The estimated power efficiency of the resonant bright soliton can be higher than that of the conventional dissipative Kerr soliton, which is determined by the loss modulation depth and the pump intensity. The self-starting soliton state on system's resonance is potentially of wide interest, which physically contributes to insights of the temporal structure formation in dissipative cavities. On application aspect, it may constitute a way to the generation of ultra-fast soliton pulse trains as well as the generation of soliton micro-combs.