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We propose a scheme for bifurcation control in micro-cavities based on the interplay between the ultrafast Kerr effect and a slow nonlinearity, such as thermo-optical, free-carriers-induced, or opto-mechanical one. We demonstrate that Hopf bifurcations can be efficiently controlled with a low energy signal via four-wave mixing. Our results show that new strategies are possible for designing efficient micro-cavity-based oscillators and sensors. Moreover, they provide new understanding of the effect of coherent wave mixing in the thermal stability regions of optical micro-cavities, fundamental for micro-resonator-based applications in communications, sensing, and metrology, including optical micro-combs.

We report on the observation of Type I third-harmonic generation induced by a train of femtosecond laser pulses in nematic liquid crystals. We find that as the average power of the train is increased, the frequency conversion process is enhanced as a consequence of the tight confinement of the pulses into a nonlocal spatial soliton. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America