Breaking fundamental noise limitations of broadband light sources (FWOTM954)

Light sources with a broad spectral bandwidth and high stability to noise, so-called coherent supercontinuum (CSC) sources, have application possibilities in many different domains including biomedical imaging, chemical sensing, frequency metrology and optical communications. Although integrated technologies allow generation of broad spectra in on-chip waveguides, the footprint of state-of-the-art (SOTA) CSC sources would only be effectively reduced provided the extremely short laser input pulses required by these SOTA sources could be generated on-chip as well. However, the realization of on-chip ultrashort pulsed lasers may be unfeasible. In this project, I propose an alternative path to produce CSC pumping with longer pulses more accessible for fully-integrated on-chip lasers. Since this project includes the first integral solution for efficiently producing CSC in the long pulse regime, I will develop a general theoretical framework to fully exploit the underlying physical concept. Furthermore, a proof-of-concept experiment of this novel approach in a silicon-on-insulator waveguide will be carried out and the potential
of further increasing the efficiency of this CSC by adding graphene on the waveguide will be explored. I expect the disruptive research presented here can impact the broad field of supercontinuum generation in many different waveguide platforms over different spectral regions as well as in new hybrid technologies based on graphene-cladded waveguides.

Keywords:resonant nonlinearity dispertion

Disciplines:Nonlinear optics and spectroscopy, Photonics, optoelectronics and optical communications