Real-time transition dynamics and stability of chip-scale dispersion-managed frequency microcombs
Yongnan Li, Shu‐Wei Huang, Bowen Li, Hao Liu, Jinghui Yang, Abhinav Kumar Vinod, Ke Wang, Mingbin Yu, Dim‐Lee Kwong, Hui‐Tian Wang, Kenneth K. Y. Wong, Chee Wei Wong
Abstract
Femtosecond mode-locked laser frequency combs have served as the cornerstone in precision spectroscopy, all-optical atomic clocks, and measurements of ultrafast dynamics. Recently frequency microcombs based on nonlinear microresonators have been examined, exhibiting remarkable precision approaching that of laser frequency combs, on a solid-state chip-scale platform and from a fundamentally different physical origin. Despite recent successes, to date, the real-time dynamical origins and high-power stabilities of such frequency microcombs have not been fully addressed. Here, we unravel the transitional dynamics of frequency microcombs from chaotic background routes to femtosecond mode-locking in real time, enabled by our ultrafast temporal magnifier metrology and improved stability of dispersion-managed dissipative solitons. Through our dispersion-managed oscillator, we further report a stability zone that is more than an order-of-magnitude larger than its prior static homogeneous counterparts, providing a novel platform for understanding ultrafast dissipative dynamics and offering a new path towards high-power frequency microcombs.