title: Coherent ultra-violet to near-infrared generation in silica ridge waveguides.
abstract: Short duration, intense pulses of light can experience dramatic spectral broadening when propagating through lengths of optical fibre. This continuum generation process is caused by a combination of nonlinear optical effects including the formation of dispersive waves. Optical analogues of Cherenkov radiation, these waves allow a pulse to radiate power into a distant spectral region. In this work, efficient and coherent dispersive wave generation of visible to ultraviolet light is demonstrated in silica waveguides on a silicon chip. Unlike fibre broadeners, the arrays provide a wide range of emission wavelength choices on a single, compact chip. This new capability is used to simplify offset frequency measurements of a mode-locked frequency comb. The arrays can also enable mode-locked lasers to attain unprecedented tunable spectral reach for spectroscopy, bioimaging, tomography and metrology.
authors.affiliation: T. J. Watson Laboratory of Applied Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.
authors.forename: Dong
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-6716-1851
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yoon Oh
authors.affiliation: T. J. Watson Laboratory of Applied Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.
authors.forename: Ki Youl
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0587-3201
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Time and Frequency Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, Colorado 80305, USA.
authors.forename: Connor
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fredrick
authors.affiliation: Time and Frequency Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, Colorado 80305, USA.
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ycas
authors.affiliation: Time and Frequency Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, Colorado 80305, USA.
authors.forename: Scott A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Diddams
authors.affiliation: T. J. Watson Laboratory of Applied Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.
authors.forename: Kerry J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Vahala