Dispersion-less Kerr solitons in spectrally confined optical cavities

Abstract

Solitons are self-reinforcing localized wave packets arising from a balance of linear and nonlinear effects. This definition encompasses the interplay of nonlinear gain and loss, leading to the concept of dissipative solitons that has been instrumental in understanding the wide variety of mode locking phenomena in ultrafast optics. To date, most studies have involved the group velocity dispersion as a key ingredient for soliton generation. Here, we report on a novel kind of soliton, both theoretically and experimentally, which builds up in spectrally confined cavities when dispersion is practically absent. Precisely, the interplay between the Kerr nonlinearity and spectral filtering results in an infinite hierarchy of eigenfunctions which, combined with optical gain, allow for the generation of stable dispersion-less dissipative solitons in a previously uncharted regime. When the filter order tends to be infinite, we find an unexpected link between dissipative and conservative solitons, in the form of Nyquist-pulse-like solitons endowed with an ultra-flat spectrum. In contrast to the dispersion-enabled solitons, these dispersion-less Nyquist solitons build on a fully confined spectrum and their energy scaling is not constrained by the pulse duration. This study broadens the fundamental scope of dissipative soliton physics and opens new avenues for engineering optical solitons endowed with superior temporal and spectral features.