Abstract

Microresonator Kerr frequency combs have the potential to revolutionize many aspects of modern technology (e.g. in precision metrology, spectroscopy, as well as telecommunications). In Kerr cavities, stable, low-noise, optical frequency combs often take the form of temporal cavity solitons (CSs): ultra-short optical pulses that persist in driven nonlinear resonators [1]. Recently, studies of CSs under the influence of Raman scattering (RS) have shown that the center frequency of such solitons experience a red-shift due to Raman self-frequency-shift (SFS) [2,3]. In this paper we report that in addition to inducing a SFS, RS acts to destabilize CSs, reducing the maximum cavity detuning at which they can stably exist. As the spectral width of a CS is proportional to the square root of the cavity detuning, this result imposes a new (reduced) limit on the maximum spectral extent of a CS optical frequency comb in the presence of RS. As such, it may have important implications for the future design of microresonator based Kerr frequency combs.

© 2017 IEEE