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The use of dasatinib and nilotinib in the treatment of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia represents a valid therapeutic option for patients resistant or intolerant to imatinib. In this multicentre study, adherence, persistence and efficacy in real life over two years of treatment were evaluated.Adherence to treatment was calculated as the ratio between the dose received and the prescribed dose. The dose received was calculated using pharmacy refill data. The persistence with treatment was calculated as the difference between the end and the beginning of the treatment. Efficacy was assigned as Progression-Free Survival (PFS) and Events-Free Survival (EFS) and represented through the Kaplan-Meier curve.The number of patients analysed was 117, 70 treated with dasatinib and 47 with nilotinib. Adherence to treatment for dasatinib and nilotinib at two years was 0.91 and 0.82 respectively. Persistence at two years was 77% while the PFS was 92% for both drugs in the study.Adherence to the treatment calculated over two years showed a superiority of dasatinib over nilotinib. Nevertheless, the efficacy in terms of PFS and EFS is superimposable between the two drugs in the study.

Microcavity-based frequency combs, or ‘microcombs’1,2, have enabled many fundamental breakthroughs3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21 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 lasers22,25,26,27,28. 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.

Microcombs are optical frequency combs based on microcavity resonators [1] . They find multiple applications, including metrology, spectroscopy, frequency synthesis, and optical communications. Temporal cavity solitons (TCS), the temporal counterpart of spatial cavity solitons [2] , have been shown to produce microcombs with optimal spectral features [1] and are well modeled by the Lugiato-Lefever equation in passive systems. High contrast TCS can be also obtained in active systems inclusive of laser gain [3] .

A complex problem in terahertz photonics is the need for thin emitters [1] . Traditional free-space terahertz (THz) emission crystals rely on relatively thick crystals (on the orders of millimetres), as the terahertz emission scales with the length of the crystal. Thick crystals, however, come with a number of drawbacks. One such drawback is that the emitted THz bandwidth is limited by phase-matching conditions [2] . This amounts to thicker crystals giving a lower bandwidth, making them unsuitable for broadband spectroscopy. In near-field imaging, the image resolution depends critically on how close one can approach the sample [3] : in this regime, thick crystals can quickly become unpractical as they effectively limit the achievable resolution.

Controlling the propagation of waves in random scattering media is a recurring challenge in several physical settings. Multiple scattering has a ubiquitous impact in wave domains like sound and mechanical [1] , and electromagnetic [2] . A fundamental limitation in the study of random wave propagation is the limited experimental access to the time-resolved oscillations of the electric field. At optical frequencies, in particular, the instantaneous electric field of optical wave-packets is, in general, not a directly measurable quantity, although particular settings, e.g., in the domain of optical frequency combs, allows for indirect reconstruction [3] . Conversely, full-wave characterization is quite mature in the state of the art of ultrafast terahertz (THz) photonics. The possibility of field-sensitive detection raises the important question of whether operating on the time-space domain of the electric field could provide insight on random wave propagate on typically not accessible in the optical domain. Indeed, this scenario recalls, in some fashion, the way random wave propagation is handled in the microwave and ultrasound domains, where multiple-path and scattering modelling allows specific deterministic approaches (e.g., time-reversal). A quite apt example is how the scattering matrix of a complex sample can be retrieved at optical frequency through measurements of the transmitted intensity profile [2] . This approach typically leads to a massive loss of information since scattering operates simultaneously in time and space [4] . However, it is conceivable that a more direct approach can be cast in a domain like THz, where the field is measurable in space and time. This ability would not only have a profound impact on THz imaging as a whole [5] , [6] , but it could also define novel approaches to the imaging of objects hidden behind scattering media while preserving their spectral fingerprint.

In photonics, the study of wave propagation in scattering media is limited by the inherent challenges in detecting the time-varying electric field oscillations, as detectors and cameras are only sensitive to the optical intensity. In the Terahertz (THz) domain, however, Time-Domain Spectroscopy (TDS) is an established technique capable of directly measuring the electric field and provide full-wave characterisation (amplitude and optical delay) in time. The combination of THz time-resolved measurements with the theory of wave propagation in scattering media is a rapidly emerging subject. It opens a promising route to gain coherent control over multiple-scattering phenomena in ways not previously accessible in optics [1] . Besides, the combination of broadband excitation and coherent, field-sensitive detection could allow investigating the transmission properties of a scattering medium in unprecedented detail and retrieve its coherent transfer-matrix representation, a task out-of-reach at optical frequencies. In this work, we theoretically demonstrate spatiotemporal refocusing of THz waves following a direct measurement of the transfer matrix of the scattering medium. Our approach combines the advantages offered by field-sensitive detection with the nonlinear wavefront shaping of THz waves. Wavefront shaping represents the state-of-the-art in the control of complex wave propagation at optical frequencies, as it allows to sequentially retrieve the transfer matrix elements of the scatterer [2] . To overcome the limited availability of THz Spatial Light Modulator (SLM) devices, we employ a recently proposed technique based on the nonlinear conversion of structured optical beams to THz patterns [3] . Specifically, we take inspiration from nonlinear Ghost-Imaging techniques and project a complete set of orthogonal Hadamard patterns on the scatterer [4] . This technique allows us to retrieve the complex-valued elements of the transfer matrix by numerical inversion ( Fig. 1a,b ). We apply the direct knowledge of the transfer matrix elements to identify the optimal focusing pattern in a deterministic fashion ( Fig. 1c,d ). Unlike iterative optimisation techniques [2] , our deterministic approach takes advantage of the full amount of spatiotemporal information encoded in the transfer matrix elements. Under this view, the task of identifying the optimal input wavefront is rewritten into an inverse problem that can be solved via constraint least-square optimisation methods. An exemplary result is shown in Fig. 1c,d , where our technique is employed to achieve spatiotemporal refocusing (i.e., focusing in space and compression in time) of a single cycle THz pulse.

Turing patterns and solitons are a common occurrence in systems that are out of equilibrium. For example, they regulate the emergence of organised structures in biology and chemistry. In optics, the study of temporal Turing rolls and cavity-solitons in nonlinear micro-cavity resonators has been key to the understanding of optical frequency comb formation in these structures. Over a decade, the impact of microresonator-based approaches to generating frequency combs – so-called "Micro-combs or "Kerr combs" – has reached far beyond metrology applications. Here we summarise our theoretical and experimental results for solitons and Turing patterns in a system comprising a micro-resonator nested in an auxiliary fibre-gain cavity.

We theoretically present a design of self-starting operation of microcombs based on laser-cavity solitons in a system composed of a micro-resonator nested in and coupled to an amplifying laser cavity. We demonstrate that it is possible to engineer the modulational-instability gain of the system's zero state to allow the start-up with a well-defined number of robust solitons. The approach can be implemented by using the system parameters, such as the cavity length mismatch and the gain shape, to control the number and repetition rate of the generated solitons. Because the setting does not require saturation of the gain, the results offer an alternative to standard techniques that provide laser mode-locking., Comment: To be published in Optics Express

Optical-Pump Terahertz (THz) Near-Field Microscopy (OP-TNFM) is a novel technique for trans- carrier hyperspectral imaging, capable of extracting recombination dynamics and the spatially distributed complex refractive index that results from thermalised carriers in semiconducting materials.

In an open nonlinear system, emergent complex structures are generally determined by a set of global parameters. Cavity-solitons are an example of such structures and, in their temporal form, have seeded the last decade of major developments in microresonator-based optical frequency combs. These optical pulses typically require complex procedures and external feedback to be induced and maintained. Recent progress has seen the microresonators directly embedded into a laser cavity [1] , [2] where it is possible to simply initiate cavity-soliton formation by increasing the laser-diode driving current [3] . Hybrid laser-microresonator schemes have been considered since 2012 [4] , and extremely efficient laser cavity-solitons have been experimentally and theoretically demonstrated in a laser microcomb [5] .

A cartographical study is conducted within the parameter space of a microresonator- filtered fiber laser. We identify a region in which solitons are spontaneously formed and maintained, and we investigate the effects which govern their emergence.

We provide the first demonstration of two-color optical rectification from semiconductors in an extreme absorption regime. The THz generation is free from phase-matching constraints due to the confinement of the interaction within a 25-atomic-layer region.

International audience; We summarize our results on the generation of temporal laser cavity-solitons in a system comprising an optical micro-cavity nested in a fiber laser. We will discuss their features, region of existence, potential and challenges ahead. Dissipative solitons are self-confined pulses which appear in driven and lossy systems when the phase dispersion is balanced by the nonlinear phase-shift. Ultrashort pulses generated by passive mode-locking lasers are a very important example of temporal dissipative solitons in optics. Temporal cavity-solitons [1,2,3] also belong to this class of pulses and have been instrumental in the development of optical frequency combs in nonlinear micro-cavities, or "micro-combs" [1]. Temporal cavity-solitons have been largely studied in a 'driven' configuration, where an external pumping source is resonantly coupled in the nonlinear micro-resonator to sustain and excite the solitary pulses. More recently, we demonstrated that it is possible to generate localised pulses in a configuration where the micro-cavity is inserted in a fiber laser loop, as described in Figure 1. In particular, we reported the observation of laser cavity-solitons [4], which have previously attracted large attention especially in spatial configurations, such as in semiconductor lasers [5]. By merging their properties with the physics of both micro-resonators and multi-mode systems, this scheme represents a fundamentally new paradigm for the generation, stabilisation and control of solitary optical pulses in micro-cavities. Fig. 1. Scheme of the nested, travelling-wave cavities configuration: a Kerr micro-resonator (green loop) is nested in an amplifying fibre-loop (black). The amplifying cavity comprises a gain fibre (erbium-ytterbium doped amplifier, EYDFA), a tuneable delay line with optical couplers (OC), polarising beam splitter (PBS), polarisation control and a band-pass filter (BPF). The output of the laser is monitored with an optical spectrum analyser (OSA), a second-harmonic non-collinear autocorrelator and an oscilloscope to measure the radio-frequency noise of the system. © 2 0 2 0 T h e Au t h o r (s)

Microcombs based on Turing patterns have been extensively studied in configurations that can be modelled by the Lugiato-Lefever equation. Typically, such schemes are implemented experimentally by resonant coupling of a continuous wave laser to a Kerr microcavity in order to generate highly coherent and robust waves. Here, we study the formation of such patterns in a system composed of a microresonator nested in an amplifying laser cavity, a scheme recently used to demonstrate laser cavity solitons with high optical efficiency and easy repetition rate control. Utilizing this concept, we study different regimes of Turing patterns, unveiling their formation dynamics and demonstrating their controllability and robustness. By conducting a comprehensive modulational instability study with a mean-field model of the system, we explain the pattern formation in terms of its evolution from background noise, paving the way towards complete self-starting operation. Our theoretical and experimental paper provides a clear pathway for repetition rate control of these waves over both fine (Megahertz) and large (Gigahertz) scales, featuring a fractional frequency nonuniformity better than 7 × 10−14 with a 100-ms time gate and without the need for active stabilization.

We theoretically analyze and experimentally demonstrate optical bi-stability and multi-stability in an integrated nonlinear high-order microring resonator filter based on high-index contrast doped silica glass. We use a nonlinear model accounting for both the Kerr and thermal effects to analyze the instability behavior of the coupled-resonator based filter. The model also accurately predicts the multi-stable behavior of the filter when the input frequency is slightly detuned. To understand the role of the intracavity power distribution, we investigate the detuning of the individual rings of the filter from the optical response with a pump–probe experiment. Such a measurement is performed scanning the filter with a low-power probe beam tuned a few free spectral ranges away from the resonance where the pump is coupled. A comprehensive understanding of the relationship between the nonlinear behavior and the intracavity power distribution for the high-order microring resonator filter will help the design and implementation of future all-optical switching systems using this type of filter.

The stability of laser temporal cavity solitons in micro-ring cavities nested in an externally pumped fibre loop with gain is investigated. The crucial roles of group velocity mismatch and gain dispersion are identified.

We demonstrate a Terahertz Ghost-Imaging technique combining nonlinear pattern generation and single-pixel Time-Domain-Spectroscopy (TDS) detection. Our technique allows reconstructing the morphology and spectral features of subwavelength samples.

We report the characterization of a balanced ultrafast photodetector. For this purpose, we use a recently developed time-domain laser-based vector network analyzer (VNA) to determine the common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR) of the device under test. This includes the frequency-domain response above the single-mode frequency of the coaxial connector. Although the balanced photodetector has a nominal bandwidth of 43 GHz, it generates voltage pulses with frequency components up to 180 GHz. We obtain a CMRR of better than 30 dB up to 70 GHz and better than 20 dB up to 110 GHz. The laser-based measurements are compared with the measurements using a digital sampling oscilloscope and with the frequency-domain measurements using a conventional VNA. We obtain good agreement between the three techniques with the laser-based method providing the largest measurement bandwidth, although it also constitutes the most complicated characterization setup.

Ghost imaging, based on single-pixel detection and multiple pattern illumination, is a crucial investigative tool in difficult-to-access wavelength regions. In the terahertz domain, where high-resolution imagers are mostly unavailable, ghost imaging is an optimal approach to embed the temporal dimension, creating a “hyperspectral” imager. In this framework, high resolution is mostly out of reach. Hence, it is particularly critical to developing practical approaches for microscopy. Here we experimentally demonstrate time-resolved nonlinear ghost imaging, a technique based on near-field, optical-to-terahertz nonlinear conversion and detection of illumination patterns. We show how space–time coupling affects near-field time-domain imaging, and we develop a complete methodology that overcomes fundamental systematic reconstruction issues. Our theoretical-experimental platform enables high-fidelity subwavelength imaging and carries relaxed constraints on the nonlinear generation crystal thickness. Our work establishes a rigorous framework to reconstruct hyperspectral images of complex samples inaccessible through standard fixed-time methods.

Plasmonic metasurfaces provide a compact platform to engineer the wave-front of optical beams by tuning the material and its morphology, hence enabling advanced functionalities in ultra-thin photonic systems [1,2]. In standard metasurfaces, however, the optical response is usually static and fixed by design. An appealing possibility to achieve ultrafast dynamical tuning is given by optically-induced plasmonic systems, where the metallic response of narrow-bandgap semiconductors is driven by high-fluence illumination. Under these conditions, the surface of the semiconductor can be overflown with photo-carriers inducing a transient metallic state [3]. An intriguing question is whether the transient metallization could be employed to dynamically engineer the optical response and to control light-matter interactions on the surface.

One of the major challenges in photonics is the full-wave reconstruction of arbitrary field distributions. Indeed, measuring both the amplitude and the optical delay (or optical phase) entails achieving breakthroughs in a wide range of scenarios, spanning from bio-imaging to material characterisation [1]. Time-Domain Spectroscopy (TDS) is routinely employed to perform field-sensitive measurements at terahertz (THz) frequencies. THz has been widely employed in developing advanced spectroscopy applications, thanks to its non-ionizing nature and to the fact that several materials possess a distinctive THz signature. All these features allow to precisely determine the composition of complex samples with critical implications in several fields, such as in-vivo biological imaging, medical diagnosis, security scanners and manufacturing control [2–3]. Despite the large body of research, however, the limited availability of high-resolution, full-wave imaging devices (i.e. field-sensitive THz cameras) poses a critical technological limit in this promising field.

Nonlinear optics in sub-wavelength structures plays a crucial role in the development of integrated photonics platforms and devices [1]. Surfaces, nanostructures and two-dimensional media are inherently free from longitudinal phase matching constraints and constitute an attractive framework to engineer complex forms of lightmatter interactions [2–3]. Most recent efforts in this area have focused on the generation of frequencies in the optical and infrared regions, e.g., second or third harmonic generation. An open question, however, is whether the broadband frequency conversion enabled by nanoscale nonlinear media could lead to the generation of long-wavelength radiation in a process known as Optical Rectification (OR). To date, OR of ultrafast optical pulses in nonlinear media has been subject of intense research, since it provides a robust and versatile approach to generate and manipulate broadband Terahertz (THz) fields. Using non-centrosymmetric crystals such as ZnTe and LiNbO 3 , large bandwidth THz pulses limited mainly by longitudinal phase-matching constraints, could be achieved [4]. Highly nonlinear Quasi-2D structures represent an intriguing alternative to this popular approach.

We report on 'slow' pulsing dynamics in a silica resonator-based laser system: by nesting a high-Q rod-resonator inside an amplifying fiber cavity, we demonstrate that trains of microsecond pulses can be generated with repetition rates in the hundreds of kilohertz. We show that such pulses are produced with a period equivalent to several hundreds of laser cavity roundtrips via the interaction between the gain dynamics in the fiber cavity and the thermo-optical effects in the high-Q resonator. Experiments reveal that the pulsing properties can be controlled by adjusting the amplifying fiber cavity parameters. Our results, confirmed by numerical simulations, provide useful insights on the dynamical onset of complex self-organization phenomena in resonator-based laser systems where thermo-optical effects play an active role. In addition, we show how the thermal state of the resonator can be probed and even modified by an external, counter-propagating optical field, thus hinting towards novel approaches for all-optical control and sensing applications. Published by The Optical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

We consider the passive modulation of the surface field at a junction between semiconductors and 2D-materials. We experimentally demonstrate that this boosts the optical-to-terahertz conversion efficiency beyond that of benchmark surface emitters.

Plasmonic metamaterials enable access to extremely nonlinear regimes with remarkable full-field control. We theoretically and experimentally demonstrate a novel form of photo-induced semiconducting Time-Dependent metamaterial at THz frequencies.

We demonstrate the first fully solid-state technique for the coherent detection of ultra-broadband THz pulses (0.1-10 THz), relying on the electric-field-induced second-harmonic generation attained in integrated CMOS-compatible devices.

The quest towards the integration of ultra-fast, high-precision optical clocks is reflected in the large number of high-impact papers on the topic published in the last few years. This interest has been catalysed by the impact that high-precision optical frequency combs (OFCs) have had on metrology and spectroscopy in the last decade [ [1] , [2] , [3] , [4] , [5] ]. OFCs are often referred to as optical rulers: their spectra consist of a precise sequence of discrete and equally-spaced spectral lines that represent precise marks in frequency. Their importance was recognised worldwide with the 2005 Nobel Prize being awarded to T.W. Hansch and J. Hall for their breakthrough in OFC science [ 5 ]. They demonstrated that a coherent OFC source with a large spectrum – covering at least one octave – can be stabilised with a self-referenced approach, where the frequency and the phase do not vary and are completely determined by the source physical parameters. These fully stabilised OFCs solved the challenge of directly measuring optical frequencies and are now exploited as the most accurate time references available, ready to replace the current standard for time. Very recent advancements in the fabrication technology of optical micro-cavities [ 6 ] are contributing to the development of OFC sources. These efforts may open up the way to realise ultra-fast and stable optical clocks and pulsed sources with extremely high repetition-rates, in the form of compact and integrated devices. Indeed, the fabrication of high-quality factor (high-Q) micro-resonators, capable of dramatically amplifying the optical field, can be considered a photonics breakthrough that has boosted not only the scientific investigation of OFC sources [ [8] , [13] , [11] , [12] , [10] , [7] , [9] ] but also of optical sensors and compact light modulators [ [14] , [6] ]. In this framework, the demonstration of planar high-Q resonators, compatible with silicon technology [ [14] , [13] , [11] , [12] , [10] ], has opened up a unique opportunity for these devices to provide entirely new capabilities for photonic-integrated technologies. Indeed, it is well acknowledged by the electronics industry that future generations of computer processing chips will inevitably require an extremely high density of copper-based interconnections, significantly increasing the chip power dissipation to beyond practical levels [ [15] , [16] , [17] ]; hence, conventional approaches to chip design must undergo radical changes. On-chip optical networks, or optical interconnects, can offer high speed and low energy per-transferred-bit, and micro-resonators are widely seen as a key component to interface the electronic world with photonics. Many information technology industries have recently focused on the development of integrated ring resonators to be employed for electrically-controlled light modulators [ [14] , [15] , [16] , [17] ], greatly advancing the maturity of micro-resonator technology as a whole. Recently [ [13] , [11] , [12] ], the demonstration of OFC sources in micro-resonators fabricated in electronic (i.e. in complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS)) compatible platforms has given micro-cavities an additional appeal, with the possibility of exploiting them as light sources in microchips. This scenario is creating fierce competition in developing highly efficient OFC generators based on micro-cavities which can radically change the nature of information transport and processing. Even in telecommunications, perhaps a more conventional environment for optical technologies, novel time-division multiplexed optical systems will require extremely stable optical clocks at ultra-high pulse repetition-rates towards the THz scale. Furthermore, arbitrary pulse generators based on OFC [ [18] , [19] ] are seen as one of the most promising solutions for this next generation of high-capacity optical coherent communication systems. This review will summarise the recent exciting achievements in the field of micro-combs, namely optical frequency combs based on high-Q micro-resonators, with a perspective on both the potential of this technology, as well as the open questions and challenges that remain.

We experimentally demonstrate the generation of highly coherent Type-II micro-combs based on a microresonator nested in a fiber cavity loop, known as the filter-driven four wave mixing (FD-FWM) laser scheme. In this system, the frequency spacing of the comb can be adjusted to integer multiples of the free-spectral range (FSR) of the nested micro-resonator by properly tuning the fiber cavity length. Sub-comb lines with single FSR spacing around the primary comb lines can be generated. Such a spectral emission is known as a “Type-II comb.” Our system achieves a fully coherent output. This behavior is verified by numerical simulations. This study represents an important step forward in controlling and manipulating the dynamics of an FD-FWM laser.

We experimentally investigated a novel form of photo-induced plasmonic response, in nanostructured silicon, at THz frequencies which can be employed to precisely control the full-wave properties, i.e. amplitude and phase, of the generated THz pulse.

The interest in surface terahertz emitters lies in their extremely thin active region, typically hundreds of atomic layers, and the agile surface scalability. The ultimate limit in the achievable emission is determined by the saturation of the several different mechanisms concurring to the THz frequency conversion. Although there is a very prolific debate about the contribution of each process, surface optical rectification has been highlighted as the dominant process at high excitation, but the effective limits in the conversion are largely unknown.\ud \ud The current state of the art suggests that in field-induced optical rectification a maximum limit of the emission may exist and it is ruled by the photocarrier induced neutralisation of the medium's surface field. This would represent the most important impediment to the application of surface optical rectification in high-energy THz emitters.\ud \ud We experimentally unveil novel physical insights in the THz conversion at high excitation energies mediated by the ultrafast surface optical rectification process. The main finding is that the expected total saturation of the Terahertz emission vs pump energy does not actually occur. At high energy, the surface field region contracts towards the surface. We argue that this mechanism weakens the main saturation process, re-establishing a clearly observable quadratic dependence between the emitted THz energy and the excitation. This is relevant in enabling access to intense generation at high fluences.

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.

In this contribution, we will review our recent activities in the development of double nested cavity lasers. Several stable operating regimes can be achieved over a wide range of conditions.

The interplay between ultrafast and slow nonlinearities, like Kerr and thermo-optical nonlinearities, is well-known for generating bistability, self-pulsing and chaotic regimes in optical microcavities. These effects have been observed in different kinds of devices, such as doped silica glass optical microcavities with high refractive index [1], and numerical models have been investigated to provide a description of such dynamics, e.g. in semiconductor nanocavities [2-3]. Specifically, self-pulsing can be explored to generate all-optical stochastic sources, and it has been recently demonstrated with opto-mechanical nonlinearities [4].

We demonstrate a robust control over the repetition rate of a micro-comb laser by using the Filter-Driven Four Wave Mixing scheme. Results show that the coherence can be kept during the whole process.

We experimentally investigate the enhancement and phase change of the THz emission from photo-excited randomly structured black silicon substrates mediated by an induced metallic state of the nanostructured surface.

We numerically and experimentally demonstrate the generation of Type II micro-combs in a Filter-Driven four wave mixing laser, showing that the generated Type II micro-combs are fully coherent.

In this paper, we demonstrate a novel dual-pump approach to generate robust optical frequency comb with varying free spectral range (FSR) spacing in a CMOS-compatible high-Q micro-ring resonator (MRR). The frequency spacing of the comb can be tuned by an integer number FSR of the MRR freely in our dual-pump scheme. The dual pumps are self-oscillated in the laser cavity loop and their wavelengths can be tuned flexibly by programming the tunable filter embedded in the cavity. By tuning the pump wavelength, broadband OFC with the bandwidth of >180 nm and the frequency-spacing varying from 6 to 46-fold FSRs is realized at a low pump power. This approach could find potential and practical applications in many areas, such as optical metrology, optical communication and signal processing systems, for its excellent flexibility and robustness.

The UK National Quantum Technology Hub in Sensors and Metrology is one of four flagship initiatives in the UK National of Quantum Technology Program. As part of a 20-year vision it translates laboratory demonstrations to deployable practical devices, with game-changing miniaturized components and prototypes that transform the state-of-the-art for quantum sensors and metrology. It brings together experts from the Universities of Birmingham, Glasgow, Nottingham, Southampton, Strathclyde and Sussex, NPL and currently links to over 15 leading international academic institutions and over 70 companies to build the supply chains and routes to market needed to bring 10–1000x improvements in sensing applications. It seeks, and is open to, additional partners for new application development and creates a point of easy open access to the facilities and supply chains that it stimulates or nurtures.

Recent developments in quantum photonics have initiated the process of bringing photonic-quantumbased systems out-of-the-lab and into real-world applications. As an example, devices to enable the exchange of a cryptographic key secured by the laws of quantum mechanics are already commercially available. In order to further boost this process, the next step is to transfer the results achieved by means of bulky and expensive setups into miniaturized and affordable devices. Integrated quantum photonics is exactly addressing this issue. In this paper, we briefly review the most recent advancements in the generation of quantum states of light on-chip. In particular, we focus on optical microcavities, as they can offer a solution to the problem of low efficiency that is characteristic of the materials typically used in integrated platforms. In addition, we show that specifically designed microcavities can also offer further advantages, such as compatibility with telecom standards (for exploiting existing fibre networks) and quantum memories (necessary to extend the communication distance), as well as giving a longitudinal multimode character for larger information transfer and processing. This last property (i.e., the increased dimensionality of the photon quantum state) is achieved through the ability to generate multiple photon pairs on a frequency comb, corresponding to the microcavity resonances. Further achievements include the possibility of fully exploiting the polarization degree of freedom, even for integrated devices. These results pave the way for the generation of integrated quantum frequency combs that, in turn, may find important applications toward the realization of a compact quantum-computing platform.

Passive fiber mode-locked lasers enable the excitation of multiple pulses per round trip representing a potential solutions for the increasing demand of practical optical sources with repetition rates of hundreds of GHz or higher. The control of such high repetition rate regimes is however a challenge. To this purpose, linear filters have been used in an "intracavity" configuration to force the repetition rate of the laser. This design is known as dissipative four wave mixing (DFWM) but it is usually unstable and hence marginally suitable for practical applications. We explore the use of nonlinear intracavity filters, such as integrated micro-ring resonators, capable of “driving” the FWM interaction in the laser. We term this approach as Filter-Driven FWM. With a proper choice of the filter properties in terms of free spectral range (FSR) and Q factor, we could observe stable regimes over a wide range of operating conditions, from high repetition rate oscillation at a 200GHz to the formation of two stable spectral comb replicas separated by the FSR of the main cavity (65MHz). High order filters, moreover, allow achieving nonlinear operation over large passbands. With an 11th order filter we achieve low-frequency mode-locking between the main cavity modes that oscillate within each resonance of the filter, producing burst pulsed operation. A stable mode-locked pulse train at 655GHz with an envelope of 42ps at 6.45MHz is achieved.

This review summarizes the results obtained in 2011 toward the development of an "integrated optical oscilloscope," encompassing research on new technologies for the measurement of ultrafast optical pulses in both amplitude and phase through the use of integrated devices, some of which are compatible with electronic circuit technology (CMOS).

We demonstrate temporal measurements of sub-picosecond optical pulses via time-to-frequency conversion in a 45-cm-long CMOS compatible high-index glass spiral waveguide. The measurements are based on efficient four-wave mixing in the C-band, using around 1 W of peak pump power. We achieve a resolution of 400 fs over a time window of 100 ps, representing a time-bandwidth product >; 250.

We report on light-induced optical tuning of colloidal photonic crystals doped with gold nanoparticles (Au-nps). By resonantly exciting the Au-np surface plasmon absorption with picosecond pulses at 0.53 micron in a standard pump-probe setup, we observed permanent changes in the stop band resonance around 1.7 micron, with blue wavelength shifts as large as 30 nm and associated to a nanoparticle reshaping. Fine tuning was achieved by controlling either the pulse energy or the irradiation time.

We demonstrate two-dimensional spatial solitons excited by near-infrared picosecond pulses in Kerr-like heavy metal oxide glasses with a nonlinearity one order of magnitude larger than in fused silica. Solitons were obtained at 820 nm owing to the presence of multiphoton absorption, which prevented catastrophic collapse. © 2007 Optical Society of America., This work was funded by an “Integrated Action” between Italy and Spain (IT1890/HI2006-0095) and by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (MAT2005-06508-C02-01 and TEC2005-00074/MIC).

We summarize here our recent results on high-repetition-rate laser mode-locking via microring resonators. The recent realization of multiple wavelength oscillators based on high Q-factor resonators has profoundly impacted optical frequency combs for metrology and precision measurements and other areas. The ability to mode-lock these devices is important for achieving high-precision optical clocks in a monolithic format, offering enormous benefits in performance, cost, size, and power consumption for optical waveform synthesis, high-capacity telecommunications, optical analog-to-digital conversion, and many other applications. Here, we demonstrated a mode-locked laser based on a monolithic high Q resonator. This device produces stable, self-starting transform-limited optical pulses at 200.3 GHz, with a sub-100 kHz linewidth and extremely narrow amplitude noise bandwidth of

We demonstrated coherent Terahertz characterization based on the Terahertz Field Induced Second Harmonic effect in few microns thick Silica (SiO2) samples that can be easily operated with as little as a few hundred Volts. Our sample is an infinitely long 30 μm slit written in gold. The underlying idea of our work is that of exploiting the large breakdown voltage and the high nonlinearity of glass to achieve a large signal to noise ratio detection with a very weak optical probe at moderate bias fields, thus drastically reducing the electrodes gap. Our results pave the way to a novel approach towards broadband THz detection.

In this talk, the physics of microring resonators is discussed in the classical and quantum regimes, in the context of the exploitation of chi-3 effects in these cavities as done by our group. Through the implementation of a novel microring pumping scheme and a quantum reinterpretation of the frequency comb, we present an integrated platform for the generation of quantum optical states spread over multiple optical modes. The scheme allows for highly stable and potentially fullyintegrable quantum light sources. Following the demonstration of a multiplexed heralded photon source, the scheme also enabled the first demonstration of a new nonlinear process on the integrated platform (type II spontaneous four-wave mixing) allowing the first direct generation of polarization-diverse photon pairs, where the first time two ring modes can be pumped in a stable configuration.

The spatial features of a sub-wavelength terahertz source are not accessible using time-integrated knife-edge techniques due to the non-separable space-time nature of the radiated field and to systematic modifications induced by the blade itself. We show that combining knife-edge with a time resolved electro-optical sampling, the space-time coupling can be addressed and the source field profile can be exactly reconstructed.