Abstract

Recent advances in fabrication and precision measurement techniques for dispersion engineering have enabled soliton frequency combs to operate in the near-zero GVD regime in microresonators [1,2]. These particular frequency combs are phase-matched through higher-order dispersion, usually via third-order dispersion. With low variation in the resonator mode spacing and the emission of dispersive waves, near-zero GVD frequency combs are able to cover a broad frequency range. In this work, we present near-zero GVD solitons experimentally generated in a microresonator using a continuous-wave (CW) source where the dominant higher-order dispersion term is fifth-order (5th-OD). We also numerically verify the existence of 5th-OD enabled solitons. This constitutes the first observation of near-zero GVD solitons pumped by a CW laser and the first observation of generated solitons dominated by fifth-order dispersion (FiOD) [3].

© 2023 IEEE