Topological cascade laser for frequency comb generation in $\mathcal{P}\mathcal{T}$-symmetric structures

Abstract

The cascade of resonant topological structures with $\mathcal{P}\mathcal{T}$-symmetry breaking is shown to emit laser light with a frequency-comb spectrum. We consider optically active topological Aubry-André-Harper lattices supporting edge-modes at regularly spaced frequencies. When the amplified resonances in the $\mathcal{P}\mathcal{T}$-broken regime match the edge modes of the topological gratings, we predict the emission of discrete laser lines. A proper design enables to engineer the spectral features for specific applications. The robustness of the topological protection makes the system very well suited for a novel generation of compact frequency comb emitters for spectroscopy, metrology, and quantum information.

6 pages, 6 figures

References in corpus (6)

• Topological Photonics
• Making Sense of Non-Hermitian Hamiltonians
• PT-symmetry breaking and laser-absorber modes in optical scattering systems
• Octave-spanning semiconductor laser
• Phase spectroscopy of topological invariants in photonic crystals
• PT-symmetric optical superlattices

Cited by in corpus (11)

• Nonlinear topological photonics
• Parity-Time Symmetry in Non-Hermitian Complex Optical Media
• Topological photonic crystal fibers and ring resonators
• Optical Lattices with Higher-order Exceptional Points by Non-Hermitian Coupling
• Photonic Flatband Laser
• Compatibility of transport effects in non-Hermitian nonreciprocal systems
• Tutorial: Classifying Photonic Topology Using the Spectral Localizer and Numerical $K$-Theory
• Probing topology in nonlinear topological materials using numerical $K$-theory
• Exceptional points for photon pairs bound by nonlinear dissipation in cavity arrays
• Superoscillatory PT-symmetric potentials
• Non-Hermitian physics and engineering in silicon photonics