A high-quality optical microcavity can enhance optical nonlinear effects by resonant recirculation, which provides a reliable platform for nonlinear optics research. When a soliton microcomb and a probe optical field are coexisting in a micro-resonator, a concomitant microcomb (CMC) induced by cross-phase modulation (XPM) will be formed synchronously. Here, we characterize the CMC comprehensively in a micro-resonator through theory, numerical simulation, and experimental verification. It is found that the CMCs spectra are modulated due to resonant radiation (RR) resulting from the interaction of dispersion and XPM effects. The group velocity dispersion induces symmetric RRs on the CMC, which leads to a symmetric spectral envelope and a dual-peak pulse in frequency and temporal domains, respectively, while the group velocity mismatch breaks the symmetry of RRs and leads to asymmetric spectral and temporal profiles. When the group velocity is linearly varying with frequency, two RR frequencies are hyperbolically distributed about the pump, and the probe light acts as one of the asymptotic lines. Our results enrich the CMC dynamics and guide microcomb design and applications such as spectral extension and dark pulse generation.

Free-space optical (FSO) communication technology is a promising approach to establish a secure wireless link, which has the advantages of excellent directionality, large bandwidth, multiple services, low mass and less power requirements, and easy and fast deployments. Increasing the communication capacity is the perennial goal in both scientific and engineer communities. In this paper, we experimentally demonstrate a Tbit/s parallel FSO communication system using a soliton microcomb as a multiple wavelength laser source. Two communication terminals are installed in two buildings with a straight-line distance of ∼1km. 102 comb lines are modulated by 10 Gbit/s differential phase-shift keying signals and demodulated using a delay-line interferometer. When the transmitted optical power is amplified to 19.8 dBm, 42 optical channels have optical signal-to-noise ratios higher than 27 dB and bit error rates less than 1×10-9. Our experiment shows the feasibility of a wavelength-division multiplexing FSO communication system which suits the ultra-high-speed wireless transmission application scenarios in future satellite-based communications, disaster recovery, defense, last mile problems in networks and remote sensing, and so on.

Integrated lithium niobate (LN) photonics is a promising platform for future chip-scale microwave photonics systems owing to its unique electro-optic properties, low optical loss, and excellent scalability. A key enabler for such systems is a highly linear electro-optic modulator that could faithfully convert analog electrical signals into optical signals. In this work, we demonstrate a monolithic integrated LN modulator with an ultra-high spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) of 120.04dB·Hz4/5 at 1 GHz, using a ring-assisted Mach–Zehnder interferometer configuration. The excellent synergy between the intrinsically linear electro-optic response of LN and an optimized linearization strategy allows us to fully suppress the cubic terms of third-order intermodulation distortions (IMD3) without active feedback controls, leading to ∼20dB improvement over previous results in the thin-film LN platform. Our ultra-high-linearity LN modulators could become a core building block for future large-scale functional microwave photonic integrated circuits by further integration with other high-performance components like low-loss delay lines, tunable filters, and phase shifters available on the LN platform.

Soliton microcombs (SMCs) are spontaneously formed in a coherently pumped high-quality microresonator, which provides a new tool for use as an on-chip frequency comb for applications of high-precision metrology and spectroscopy. However, generation of SMCs seriously relies on advanced experimental techniques from professional scientists. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a program-controlled single SMC source where the intracavity thermal effect is timely balanced using an auxiliary laser during single SMC generation. The microcomb power is adopted as the criteria for microcomb states discrimination and a forward and backward thermal tuning technique is employed for the deterministic single SMC generation. Further, based on a closed-loop control system, the repetition rate stability of the SMC source improved more than 20 times and the pump frequency can be continuously tuned by simply changing the operation temperature. The reliability of the SMC source is verified by consecutive 200 generation trials and maintaining over 10 h. We believe the proposed SMC source will have significant promising influences in future SMC-based application development.

Laser-based light detection and ranging (lidar) plays a significant role in both scientific and industrial areas. However, it is difficult for existing lidars to achieve high speed, high precision, and long distance simultaneously. Here, we demonstrate a high-performance lidar based on a chip-scaled soliton microcomb (SMC) that can realize all three specialties simultaneously. Aided by the excellent properties of ultrahigh repetition rate and the smooth envelope of the SMC, traditional optical frequency comb (OFC)-based dispersive interferometry is heavily improved and the measuring dead zone induced by the mismatch between the repetition rate of the OFC and resolution of the optical spectrum analyzer is totally eliminated. Combined with an auxiliary dual-frequency phase-modulated laser range finder, the none-dead-zone measurable range ambiguity is extended up to 1500 m. The proposed SMC lidar is experimentally implemented in both indoor and outdoor environment. In the outdoor baseline field, real-time, high-speed (up to 35 kHz) measurement of a long distance of ～1179m is achieved with a minimum Allan deviation of 5.6 μm at an average time of 0.2 ms (27 nm at an average time of 1.8 s after high-pass filtering). The present SMC lidar approaches a compact, fast, high-precision, and none-dead zone long-distance ranging system, aimed at emerging applications of frontier basic scientific research and advances in industrial manufacturing.

Optical frequency combs, a revolutionary light source characterized by discrete and equally spaced frequencies, are usually regarded as a cornerstone for advanced frequency metrology, precision spectroscopy, high-speed communication, distance ranging, molecule detection, and many others. Due to the rapid development of micro/nanofabrication technology, breakthroughs in the quality factor of microresonators enable ultrahigh energy buildup inside cavities, which gives birth to microcavity-based frequency combs. In particular, the full coherent spectrum of the soliton microcomb (SMC) provides a route to low-noise ultrashort pulses with a repetition rate over two orders of magnitude higher than that of traditional mode-locking approaches. This enables lower power consumption and cost for a wide range of applications. This review summarizes recent achievements in SMCs, including the basic theory and physical model, as well as experimental techniques for single-soliton generation and various extraordinary soliton states (soliton crystals, Stokes solitons, breathers, molecules, cavity solitons, and dark solitons), with a perspective on their potential applications and remaining challenges.

We demonstrate a passively mode-locked all-fiber laser incorporating a piece of graded-index multimode fiber as a mode-locking modulator based on a nonlinear multimodal interference technique, which generates two types of coexisting high-energy ultrashort pulses [i.e., the conventional soliton (CS) and the stretched pulse (SP)]. The CS with pulse energy as high as 0.38 nJ is obtained at the pump level of 130 mW. When the pump increases to 175 mW, the high-energy SP occurs at a suitable nonlinear phase bias and its pulse energy can reach 4 nJ at a 610 mW pump. The pulse durations of the generated CS and SP are 2.3 ps and 387 fs, respectively. The theory of nonlinear fiber optics, single-shot spectral measurement by the dispersive Fourier-transform technique, and simulation methods based on the Ginzburg–Landau equation are provided to characterize the laser physics and reveal the underlying principles of the generated CS and SP. A rogue wave, observed between the CS and SP regions, mirrors the laser physics behind the dynamics of generating a high-energy SP from a CS. The proposed all-fiber laser is versatile, cost-effective and easy to integrate, which provides a promising solution for high-energy pulse generation.

We investigate frequency-comb generation in normal dispersion silicon microresonators from the near-infrared to mid-infrared wavelength range in the presence of multiphoton absorption and free-carrier effects. It is found that parametric oscillation is inhibited in the telecom wavelength range resulting from strong two-photon absorption. On the contrary, beyond the wavelength of 2200 nm, where three- and four-photon absorption are less detrimental, a comb can be generated with moderate pump power, or free-carriers are swept out by a positive-intrinsic-negative structure. In the temporal domain, the generated combs correspond to flat-top pulses, and the pulse duration can be easily controlled by varying the laser detuning. The reported comb generation process shows a high conversion efficiency compared with anomalous dispersion regime, which can guide and promote comb formation in materials with normal dispersion. As the comb spectra cover the mid-infrared wavelength range, they can find applications in comb-based radiofrequency photonic filters and mid-infrared spectroscopy.

Dual combs are an emerging tool to obtain unprecedented resolution, high sensitivity, ultrahigh accuracy, broad bandwidth, and ultrafast data updating rate in the fields of molecular spectroscopy, optical metrology, as well as optical frequency synthesis. The recent progress in chip-based microcombs has promoted the on-chip dual-comb measuring systems to a new phase attributed to the large frequency spacing and broad spectrum. In this paper, we demonstrate proof-of-concept dual-comb generation with orthogonal polarization in a single microresonator through pumping both the transverse-electric (TE) and transverse-magnetic (TM) modes simultaneously. The two orthogonal polarized pumps are self-oscillating in a fiber ring cavity. The generated dual comb exhibits excellent stability due to the intrinsic feedback mechanism of the self-locked scheme. The repetition rate of the two orthogonal combs is slightly different because of the mode spacing difference between the TE and TM modes. Such orthogonal polarized dual-combs could be a new comb source for out-of-lab applications in the fields of integrated spectroscopy, ranging measurement, optical frequency synthesis, and microwave comb generation.