A laser source apparatus (100) for generating temporal dissipative cavity solitons (1) comprises an input source-device (10), being configured for providing an input light field (2), and an optical resonator device (20) with a resonator (21) having a third order optical Kerr non-linearity and being coupled with the input source device (10) for generating the cavity solitons (1) by the driving input light field (2), wherein the input source device (10) is configured for providing the input light field (2) as a pulse train of laser pulses (3). Preferably, the pulse repetition rate of the input laser pulses (2) is adapted to the free spectral range of the resonator (21) and the carrier envelope offset frequency of the input laser pulses (2) is adapted to one of the resonant frequencies of the resonator (21). Furthermore, a method of generating temporal dissipative cavity solitons (1) is described.

A self-starting mode locking soliton device includes a first optical port to accept an input coherent light. A second optical port provides an output comb of a plurality of wavelengths. A comb resonator with optical Kerr nonlinearity and anomalous group-velocity dispersion is optically coupled to both of said first optical port and said second optical port. The resonator includes an optical property of a negative nonlinear bistability to enable the self-starting mode locking of a Kerr soliton comb. A method of self-starting mode locking is described. A method of producing the negative nonlinear bistability is also described.

A tantala ring resonator includes a tantala ring resonator formed by ion-beam sputtering of tantalum pentoxide and exhibiting an optical quality factor in excess of 310.sup.6, and a substrate to which the tantala ring resonator is attached. A method for fabricating nonlinear photonic devices includes depositing tantalum pentoxide with ion-beam sputtering to form a tantala layer onto a substrate, annealing the tantala layer, and etching the tantala layer to form a photonic device.

Methods and apparatus for providing dispersion-managed dissipative Kerr solitons on-chip are provided. Microresonators are also provided for producing such solitons. The solitons may be enabled by real-time dynamical measurements on frequency combs. Methods are further provided to determine the temporal structure of the intracavity field in both the fast time axis, with ultrafast time-lens magnifiers at 600 fs timing resolutions, and the slow time axis via optical sampling with a synchronized fiber frequency comb reference. An order-of-magnitude enlarged stability zone of the dispersion-managed dissipative Kerr solitons is achieved versus the static regimes.

Example methods, devices, and systems for optical emission are disclosed. An example device can comprise one or more optical filters. The one or more optical filters can be configured to be coupled to an optical amplifier. The device can comprise a microresonator configured to receive an output of the one or more optical filters and output, based on parametric multiwave mixing, a frequency comb. The one or more optical filters and the microresonator can be integrated into a single chip.

A photonic device includes a substrate and a tantala ring resonator on the substrate. The tantala ring resonator has at least one of (i) a quality factor exceeding three million and (ii) a threshold power less than one hundred milliwatts. A frequency-comb generation method includes sweeping the output frequency of a laser coupled to a tantala ring resonator that has at least one of (i) a quality factor exceeding three million and (ii) a threshold power less than one hundred milliwatts.

A self-starting mode locking soliton device includes a first optical port to accept an input coherent light. A second optical port provides an output comb of a plurality of wavelengths. A comb resonator with optical Kerr nonlinearity and anomalous group-velocity dispersion is optically coupled to both of said first optical port and said second optical port. The resonator includes an optical property of a negative nonlinear bistability to enable the self-starting mode locking of a Kerr soliton comb. A method of self-starting mode locking is described. A method of producing the negative nonlinear bistability is also described.

A laser source apparatus (100) for generating temporal dissipative cavity solitons (1) comprises an input source-device (10), being configured for providing an input light field (2), and an optical resonator device (20) with a resonator (21) having a third order optical Kerr non-linearity and being coupled with the input source device (10) for generating the cavity solitons (1) by the driving input light field (2), wherein the input source device (10) is configured for providing the input light field (2) as a pulse train of laser pulses (3). Preferably, the pulse repetition rate of the input laser pulses (2) is adapted to the free spectral range of the resonator (21) and the carrier envelope offset frequency of the input laser pulses (2) is adapted to one of the resonant frequencies of the resonator (21). Furthermore, a method of generating temporal dissipative cavity solitons (1) is described.

Methods and apparatus for providing dispersion-managed dissipative Kerr solitons on-chip are provided. Microresonators are also provided for producing such solitons. The solitons may be enabled by real-time dynamical measurements on frequency combs. Methods are further provided to determine the temporal structure of the intracavity field in both the fast time axis, with ultrafast time-lens magnifiers at 600 fs timing resolutions, and the slow time axis via optical sampling with a synchronized fiber frequency comb reference. An order-of-magnitude enlarged stability zone of the dispersion-managed dissipative Kerr solitons is achieved versus the static regimes.

The present invention provides octave-spanning optical frequency combs. The octave-spanning optical frequency combs employ microresonators having improved stability using a smaller form factor. In some embodiments, the octave-spanning optical frequency combs are fabricated using aluminum nitride (AlN). AlN is a more robust Kerr material for generating octave-spanning soliton comb (e.g., 1.5 octaves or more).