The Nyquist soliton Kerr comb


Abstract in English

Dissipative Kerr cavity solitons (DKSs) are localized particle-like wave packets that have attracted peoples great interests in the past decades. Besides being an excellent candidate for studying nonlinear physics, DKSs can also enable the generation of broadband frequency combs which have revolutionized a wide range of applications. The formation of DKSs are generally explained by a double balance mechanism. The group velocity dispersion is balanced by the Kerr effect; and the cavity loss is compensated by the parametric gain. Here, we show that DKSs can emerge through the interplay between dispersive loss and Kerr gain, without the participation of group velocity dispersion. By incorporating rectangular gate spectral filtering in a zero-dispersion coherently driven Kerr cavity, we demonstrate the generation of Nyquist-pulse-like solitons with unprecedented ultra-flat spectra in the frequency domain. The discovery of pure dissipation enabled solitons reveals new insights into the cavity soliton dynamics, and provides a useful tool for spectral tailoring of Kerr frequency combs.

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