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arXiv · 2503.04468

Spectral dynamics in broadband frequency combs with overlapping harmonics

Weichen Fan·Furkan Ayhan·Thibault Wildi·Mikhail Volkov·Ali Seer·Markus Ludwig·Thibault Voumard·Andreas Brodschelm·Victor Brasch·Guillermo L. Villanueva·Tobias Herr
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Abstract

Optical frequency combs and their spectra of evenly spaced discrete laser lines are essential to modern time and frequency metrology. Recent advances in integrated photonic waveguides enable efficient nonlinear broadening of an initially narrowband frequency comb to multi-octave bandwidth. Here, we study the nonlinear dynamics in the generation of such ultra-broadband spectra where different harmonics of the comb can overlap. We show that a set of interleaved combs with different offset frequencies extending across the entire spectrum can emerge, which transform into a single evenly spaced ultra-broadband frequency comb when the initial comb is offset-free.

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Weichen Fan, Furkan Ayhan, Thibault Wildi, Mikhail Volkov, Ali Seer, Markus Ludwig, Thibault Voumard, Andreas Brodschelm, Victor Brasch, Guillermo L. Villanueva, Tobias Herr. 2025-03-06. Spectral dynamics in broadband frequency combs with overlapping harmonics. https://doi.org/10.1103/kgd7-52hy

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