Kavli Affiliate: Alireza Marandi
| First 5 Authors: Robert M. Gray, Mingchen Liu, Selina Zhou, Arkadev Roy, Luis Ledezma
| Summary:
Optical solitons have long been of interest both from a fundamental
perspective and because of their application potential. Both cubic (Kerr) and
quadratic nonlinearities can lead to soliton formation, but quadratic solitons
can practically benefit from stronger nonlinearity and achieve substantial
wavelength conversion. However, despite their rich physics, quadratic cavity
solitons have been used only for broadband frequency comb generation,
especially in the mid-IR. Here, we show that the formation dynamics of mid-IR
quadratic cavity solitons can be effectively leveraged to enhance molecular
sensing. We demonstrate significant sensitivity enhancement while circumventing
constraints of traditional cavity enhancement mechanisms. We perform
experiments sensing CO$_2$ using quadratic cavity solitons around 4 $mu$m and
achieve an equivalent path length enhancement of 6000. Additionally, we
demonstrate large sensitivity at high concentrations of CO$_2$, beyond what can
be achieved using an equivalent high-finesse linear cavity by orders of
magnitude. Our results highlight a path for utilizing quadratic cavity
nonlinear dynamics and solitons for molecular sensing beyond what can be
achieved using linear methods.
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