Optical Solitons and Frequency Comb Generation - Abstract

Tlidi, Mustapha

Nonlocal-delayed Raman effect induces moving localized structures in optical resonators

This contribution aims to investigate the formation of moving localized structures in bistable systems subjected to time-delayed response. So far, however, the interaction between fronts leading to moving localized structures has neither been experimentally investigated nor analytically performed. We address the theoretical side of this problem. We provide an analytical understanding of the generation of moving localized structures induced by the time-delayed nonlocal response in a generic bistable model. Through fronts interaction, we characterize these structures by deriving their shape, their width, and their speed. We show that fronts interaction modifies the dynamics of many bistable systems drastically. We propose a realistic and experimentally relevant system, namely optical frequency comb generators such as all fiber cavity, whispering-gallery-mode resonators or microresonators that the time-delayed nonlocal response stabilizes traveling localized structures. In this respect, Frequency combs generated in optical Kerr resonators are nothing but the spectral content of the stable localized structure occurring in the cavity. The enormous impact of frequency comb sources on science and technology has been widely recognized. Besides their impact on fundamental physics, optical frequency combs have led to a significant advance in many real-life applications, such as precision distance measurements, optical waveform and microwave synthesis, and optical spectroscopy. Despite the high impact of frequency comb sources on many branches of physical sciences, development of these sources is still a relatively young research field. When two fronts are well separated from each other, due to time delayed response, the nature of the interaction is altered in depth and leads to the stabilization of moving localized structures. This opens new possibilities for practical devices taking into account the fundamental aspects of the nonlinear physics associated with the optical cavities.