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Laser cavity-solitons can appear in a microresonator-filtered laser when judiciously balancing the slow nonlinearities of the system. Under certain conditions, such optical states can be made to self-emerge and recover spontaneously, and the understanding of their robustness is critical for practical applications. Here, we study the formation of a bonded state comprising a soliton and a blue-detuned continuous wave, whose coexistence is mediated by dispersion in the nonlinear refractive index. Our real-time dispersive Fourier transform measurements, supported by comprehensive theoretical analysis, reveal the presence of an elastic bonding between the two states, resulting in an enhancement of the soliton's robustness. Cavity-solitons in microresonator-filtered fibre lasers are robust states with self-recovery capabilities that emerge when a delicate balance of energy-dependent nonlinearities is achieved. In this work, the authors make use of the dispersive Fourier transform to understand the dynamics leading to a soliton bonded with a quasi-continuous wave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microcavity-based frequency combs, or 'microcombs'1,2, have enabled many fundamental breakthroughs3–21 through the discovery of temporal cavity-solitons. These self-localized waves, described by the Lugiato–Lefever equation22, are sustained by a background of radiation usually containing 95% of the total power23. Simple methods for their efficient generation and control are currently being investigated to finally establish microcombs as out-of-the-lab tools24. Here, we demonstrate microcomb laser cavity-solitons. Laser cavity-solitons are intrinsically background-free and have underpinned key breakthroughs in semiconductor lasers22,25–28. By merging their properties with the physics of multimode systems29, we provide a new paradigm for soliton generation and control in microcavities. We demonstrate 50-nm-wide bright soliton combs induced at average powers more than one order of magnitude lower than the Lugiato–Lefever soliton power threshold22, measuring a mode efficiency of 75% versus the theoretical limit of 5% for bright Lugiato–Lefever solitons23. Finally, we can tune the repetition rate by well over a megahertz without any active feedback. By nesting a Kerr microresonator in a fibre loop with gain, 50-nm-wide bright microcavity-based soliton combs with a mode efficiency of 75% can be induced at average powers more than one order of magnitude lower than the Lugiato–Lefever soliton power threshold, facilitating real-world applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent introduction of coherent optical communications has created a compelling need for ultrafast phase-sensitive measurement techniques operating at milliwatt peak power levels and in timescales ranging from sub-picoseconds to nanoseconds. Previous reports of ultrafast optical signal measurements in integrated platforms include time-lens temporal imaging on a silicon chip and waveguide-based frequency-resolved optical gating (FROG). Time-lens imaging is phase-insensitive, and waveguide-based FROG methods require the integration of long tunable delay lines, which is still an unsolved challenge. Here, we report a device capable of characterizing both the amplitude and phase of ultrafast optical pulses with the aid of a synchronized incoherently related clock pulse. It is based on a novel variation of spectral phase interferometry for direct electric-field reconstruction (SPIDER) that exploits degenerate four-wave mixing in a CMOS-compatible chip. We measure pulses with a peak power of <100 mW, a frequency bandwidth of >1 THz, and up to 100 ps pulsewidths, yielding a time-bandwidth product of >100. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Second-harmonic generation is investigated in lithium niobate channels realized by proton exchange and quasi-phase matched by surface periodic poling. The reduction in conversion efficiency at high powers is interpreted in terms of multiphoton absorption via two-color terms, yielding an estimate of the dominating three-photon process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern optical systems increasingly rely on complex physical processes that require accessible control to meet target performance characteristics. In particular, advanced light sources, sought for, for example, imaging and metrology, are based on nonlinear optical dynamics whose output properties must often finely match application requirements. However, in these systems, the availability of control parameters (e.g., the optical field shape, as well as propagation medium properties) and the means to adjust them in a versatile manner are usually limited. Moreover, numerically finding the optimal parameter set for such complex dynamics is typically computationally intractable. Here, we use an actively controlled photonic chip to prepare and manipulate patterns of femtosecond optical pulses that give access to an enhanced parameter space in the framework of supercontinuum generation. Taking advantage of machine learning concepts, we exploit this tunable access and experimentally demonstrate the customization of nonlinear interactions for tailoring supercontinuum properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terahertz technologies recently emerged as outstanding candidates for a variety of applications in such sectors as security, biomedical, pharmaceutical, aero spatial, etc. Imaging the terahertz field, however, still remains a challenge, particularly when sub-wavelength resolutions are involved. Here we demonstrate an all-optical technique for the terahertz near-field imaging directly at the source plane. A thin layer (<100 nm-thickness) of photo carriers is induced on the surface of the terahertz generation crystal, which acts as an all-optical, virtual blade for terahertz near-field imaging via a knife-edge technique. Remarkably, and in spite of the fact that the proposed approach does not require any mechanical probe, such as tips or apertures, we are able to demonstrate the imaging of a terahertz source with deeply sub-wavelength features (<30 μm) directly in its emission plane. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrafast laser processing applications need fast approaches to assess the nonlinear propagation of the laser beam in order to predict the optimal range of processing parameters in a wide variety of cases. We develop here a method based on the simple monitoring of the nonlinear beam shaping against numerical prediction. The numerical code solves the nonlinear Schrödinger equation with nonlinear absorption under simplified conditions by employing a state-of-the art computationally efficient approach. By comparing with experimental results we can rapidly estimate the nonlinear refractive index and nonlinear absorption coefficients of the material. The validity of this approach has been tested in a variety of experiments where nonlinearities play a key role, like spatial soliton shaping or fs-laser waveguide writing. The approach provides excellent results for propagated power densities for which free carrier generation effects can be neglected. Above such a threshold, the peculiarities of the nonlinear propagation of elliptical beams enable acquiring an instantaneous picture of the deposition of energy inside the material realistic enough to estimate the effective nonlinear refractive index and nonlinear absorption coefficients that can be used for predicting the spatial distribution of energy deposition inside the material and controlling the beam in the writing process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]