Kerr Solitons and Brillouin Lasers in Optical Microresonators

Citation

Wang, Heming (2021) Kerr Solitons and Brillouin Lasers in Optical Microresonators. Dissertation (Ph.D.), California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/g1kf-5t57. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechTHESIS:05282021-193431717

Abstract

Optical resonators are capable of storing electromagnetic energies in the visible and infrared band. The light intensity is greatly enhanced within the resonator, which makes them suitable as a platform for nonlinear optics studies. Here, using silica microresonators as platforms, we explore the fundamental nonlinear dynamics of light induced by Kerr nonlinearity and Brillouin scattering. The first half of the thesis analyzes optical solitons as a result of Kerr nonlinearity, including its universal scaling, its dynamics in the presence of laser feedback, the analytical properties of its relativistic counterpart, as well as its applications as a wavelength reference. The second half of the thesis focuses on stimulated Brillouin lasers and their linewidth performance, demonstrating new performance levels of the Brillouin laser and two correction factors to its linewidth that have been established for semiconductor lasers.

Thesis Files