Kerr frequency combs Gires-Tournois-based 3D photonic source

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Svetlana Gurevich
• Subject Area: Statistical Physics, Nonlinear Dynamics, Complex Systems, Soft and Fluid Matter, Biological Physics ; Optics, Quantum Optics and Physics of Atoms, Molecules and Plasmas
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 505936983

The project KOGIT aims at designing, fabricating, analyzing experimentally and studying theoretically a novel three-dimensional (3D) source for optical frequency combs (OFC) generation using a mature AlGaAs-based vertical technology of high crystal quality and performance. Our approach consists in designing an optically-injected vertical-emission Kerr Gires-Tournois Interferometer (KGTI) integrated in a compact free-space external cavity. This coupled-cavity system will be designed to reach the regime of optical bistability; a recent theoretical study by the members of the consortium has showed the existence of robust and tunable OFCs with high potential for applications such as sensing and metrology. By realizing plano-concave or self-imaging cavity configurations, one can pass from a small Fresnel number, where all the points in the transverse plane of the KGTI are strongly correlated, to a large Fresnel number where each point can generate independently its own OFC. In that latter case, we envision the possibility to generate multiple, reconfigurable and spatially independent OFCs via the integration of 2D metasurfaces in the KGTI to control the transverse multiplexed light beam properties.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: France
• Partner Organisation: Agence Nationale de la Recherche / The French National Research Agency
• Cooperation Partners: Professor Dr. Arnaud Garnache; Professor Dr. Massimo Giudici