Soliton Microcomb on Chip Integrated Si3N4 Microresonators with Power Amplification in Erbium-Doped Optical Mono-Core Fiber

• Published in: Micromachines (Basel) Vol. 13; no. 12; p. 2125
• Main Authors: Chen, Xinpeng, Sun, Suwan, Ji, Weizhu, Ding, Xingxing, Gao, You, Liu, Tuo, Wen, Jianxiang, Guo, Hairun, Wang, Tingyun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 30-11-2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Amplification; Data centers; dispersion; Efficiency; Erbium; Lasers; optical amplification; Photonics; Silicon nitride; Solitary waves; soliton microcombs; Telecommunications; Wave division multiplexing
• ISSN: 2072-666X; 2072-666X
• DOI: 10.3390/mi13122125

Soliton microcombs, offering large mode spacing and broad bandwidth, have enabled a variety of advanced applications, particularly for telecommunications, photonic data center, and optical computation. Yet, the absolute power of microcombs remains insufficient, such that optical power amplification is always required. Here, we demonstrate a combined technique to access power-sufficient optical microcombs, with a photonic-integrated soliton microcomb and home-developed erbium-doped gain fiber. The soliton microcomb is generated in an integrated Si3N4 microresonator chip, which serves as a full-wave probing signal for power amplification. After the amplification, more than 40 comb modes, with 115-GHz spacing, reach the onset power level of >−10 dBm, which is readily available for parallel telecommunications , among other applications.