Modulation Instability Induced Frequency Comb Generation in a Continuously Pumped Optical Parametric Oscillator

Year: 2018

Authors: Mosca S., Parisi M., Ricciardi I., Leo F., Hansson T., Erkintalo M., Maddaloni P., De Natale P., Wabnitz S., De Rosa M.

Autors Affiliation: CNR-INO, Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Via Campi Flegrei 34, I-80078 Pozzuoli (NA), Italy; INFN, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sez. di Napoli, Complesso Universitario di M.S. Angelo, Via Cintia, Napoli 80126, Italy; OPERA-photonics, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 50 Avenue F. D. Roosevelt, CP 194/5, B-1050 Bruxelles, Belgium; Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Informazione, Università di Brescia, Via Branze 38, I-25123 Brescia, Italy;The Dodd-Walls Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies, Department of Physics, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1142, New Zealand; CNR-INO, Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Largo E. Fermi 6, I-50125 Firenze, Italy; Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Informazione, Università di Brescia, and CNR–INO, Via Branze 38, I-25123 Brescia, Italy; Novosibirsk State University, 1 Pirogova Street, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia

Abstract: Continuously pumped passive nonlinear cavities can be harnessed for the creation of novel optical frequency combs. While most research has focused on third-order “Kerr” nonlinear interactions, recent studies have shown that frequency comb formation can also occur via second-order nonlinear effects. Here, we report on the formation of quadratic combs in optical parametric oscillator (OPO) configurations. Specifically, we demonstrate that optical frequency combs can be generated in the parametric region around half of the pump frequency in a continuously driven OPO. We also model the OPO dynamics through a single time-domain mean-field equation, identifying previously unknown dynamical regimes, induced by modulation instabilities, which lead to comb formation. Numerical simulation results are in good agreement with experimentally observed spectra. Moreover, the analysis of the coherence properties of the simulated spectra shows the existence of correlated and phase-locked combs. Our results reveal previously unnoticed dynamics of an apparently well assessed optical system, and can lead to a new class of frequency comb sources that may stimulate novel applications by enabling straightforward access to elusive spectral regions, such as the midinfrared.

Journal/Review: PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

Volume: 121 (9)      Pages from: 093903-1  to: 093903-6

KeyWords: Frequency modulation; Microwave oscillators; Natural frequencies; Nonlinear analysis; Optical materials; Optical parametric oscillators; Optical signal processing; Optical systems, Coherence properties; Mean field equation; Modulation instabilities; Nonlinear cavities; Nonlinear interactions; Novel applications; Optical frequency combs; Second-order nonlinear effects, Nonlinear optics; Optical frequency comb
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.093903

Citations: 83
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