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Broadband frequency comb generation through cascaded quadratic nonlinearity remains experimentally untapped in free-space cavities with bulk χ(2)materials mainly due to the high threshold power and restricted ability of dispersion engineering. Thin-film lithium niobate (LN) is a good platform for nonlinear optics due to the tight mode confinement in a nano-dimensional waveguide, the ease of dispersion engineering, large quadratic nonlinearities, and flexible phase matching via periodic poling. Here we demonstrate broadband frequency comb generation through dispersion engineering in a thin-film LN microresonator. Bandwidths of 150 nm (80 nm) and 25 nm (12 nm) for center wavelengths at 1560 and 780 nm are achieved, respectively, in a cavity-enhanced second-harmonic generation (doubly resonant optical parametric oscillator). Our demonstration paves the way for pure quadratic soliton generation, which is a great complement to dissipative Kerr soliton frequency combs for extended interesting nonlinear applications.
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Ultra-wideband and high gain parametric amplification in telecom wavelengths with optimally mode-matched PPLN waveguide
We report a wideband optical parametric amplification (OPA) over 14 THz covering telecom S, C, and L bands with observed maximum parametric gain of 38.3 dB. The OPA is realized through cascaded second-harmonic generation and difference-frequency generation (cSHG-DFG) in a 2 cm periodically poled LiNbO3 (PPLN) waveguide. With tailored cross section geometry, the waveguide is optimally mode matched for efficient cascaded nonlinear wave mixing. We also identify and study the effect of competing nonlinear processes in this cSHG-DFG configuration.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1641094
- PAR ID:
- 10065372
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Optics letters
- Volume:
- 43
- ISSN:
- 1539-4794
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 2965
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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