Mode-Locked Topological Insulator Laser Utilizing Synthetic Dimensions

Abstract

We propose a system that exploits the fundamental features of topological photonics and synthetic dimensions to force many semiconductor laser resonators to synchronize, mutually lock, and under suitable modulation emit a train of transform-limited mode-locked pulses. These lasers exploit the Floquet topological edge states in a 1D array of ring resonators, which corresponds to a 2D topological system with one spatial dimension and one synthetic frequency dimension. We show that the lasing state of the multi-element laser system possesses the distinct characteristics of spatial topological edge states while exhibiting topologically protected transport. The topological synthetic-space edge mode imposes a constant-phase difference between the multi-frequency modes on the edges, and together with modulation of the individual elements forces the ensemble of resonators to mode-lock and emit short pulses, robust to disorder in the multi-resonator system. Our results offer a proof-of-concept mechanism to actively mode-lock a laser diode array of many lasing elements, which is otherwise extremely difficult due to the presence of many spatial modes of the array. The topological synthetic-space concepts proposed here offer an avenue to overcome this major technological challenge, and open new opportunities in laser physics.

arXiv comment24 p

References in corpus (36)

• Topological Insulators
• Topological insulators and superconductors
• Quantum Spin Hall Insulator State in HgTe Quantum Wells
• Topological Photonics
• Photonic Floquet Topological Insulators
• Possible Realization of Directional Optical Waveguides in Photonic Crystals with Broken Time-Reversal Symmetry
• Photonic Analogue of Two-dimensional Topological Insulators and Helical One-Way Edge Transport in Bi-Anisotropic Metamaterials
• Imaging topological edge states in silicon photonics
• Scheme to Achieve Silicon Topological Photonics
• Robust optical delay lines via topological protection
• Reflection-Free One-Way Edge Modes in a Gyromagnetic Photonic Crystal
• Acoustic topological insulator and robust one-way sound transport
• Topological States and Adiabatic Pumping in Quasicrystals
• Observation of phononic helical edge states in a mechanical 'topological insulator'
• Observation of chiral edge states with neutral fermions in synthetic Hall ribbons
• Visualizing edge states with an atomic Bose gas in the quantum Hall regime
• Synthetic gauge fields in synthetic dimensions
• Exciton-polariton topological insulator
• Photonic topological pumping through the edges of a dynamical four-dimensional quantum Hall system
• Synthetic Dimension in Photonics
• Strain-induced pseudomagnetic field and Landau levels in photonic structures
• Time-reversal symmetry breaking in circuit-QED based photon lattices
• Topological quantum matter in synthetic dimensions
• Photonic Topological Insulator in Synthetic Dimensions
• Synthetic dimensions in integrated photonics: From optical isolation to 4D quantum Hall physics
• Topological Sound
• Optical Resonator Analog of a Two-Dimensional Topological Insulator
• Quantum simulation of an extra dimension
• Artificial Gauge Field for Photons in Coupled Cavity Arrays
• A single photonic cavity with two independent physical synthetic dimensions
• Photonic gauge potential in a system with a synthetic frequency dimension
• Quantum simulation of 2d topological physics using orbital-angular-momentum-carrying photons in a 1d array of cavities
• Experimental band structure spectroscopy along a synthetic dimension
• Synthetic Dimensions for Cold Atoms from Shaking a Harmonic Trap
• Four-dimensional photonic lattices and discrete tesseract solitons
• A platform for electrically pumped polariton simulators and topological lasers

Cited by in corpus (30)

• Nonlinear topological photonics
• Topological photonic crystals: physics, designs and applications
• Anomalous single-mode lasing induced by nonlinearity and the non-Hermitian skin effect
• Topological Frequency Combs and Nested Temporal Solitons
• Topological metasurface: From passive toward active and beyond
• Tutorial: synthetic frequency dimensions in dynamically modulated ring resonators
• Nonlinear Topological Valley Hall Edge States Arising from Type-II Dirac Cones
• Topological phases in ring resonators: recent progress and future prospects
• Theory of the coherence of topological lasers
• A comprehensive review on developments of synthetic dimensions
• Nonlinear states and dynamics in a synthetic frequency dimension
• Deterministic photonic quantum computation in a synthetic time dimension
• Topological holographic quench dynamics in a synthetic dimension
• Single Pulse Manipulations in Synthetic Time-frequency Space
• Single-mode lasing based on PT-breaking of two-dimensional photonic higher-order topological insulator
• Tunable two-dimensional laser arrays with zero-phase locking
• Topological Transitions with an Imaginary Aubry-Andre-Harper Potential
• Simulating topological materials with photonic synthetic dimensions in cavities
• Dynamical Detection of Topological Spectral Density
• Quantized Hall drift in a frequency-encoded photonic Chern insulator
• Probing Bulk Band Topology from Time Boundary Effect in Synthetic Dimension
• Weyl singularities in polaritonic multi-terminal Josephson junctions
• Intrinsic triple degeneracy point bounded by nodal surfaces in chiral photonic crystal
• Robust Transport of the Edge Modes along the Photonic Topological Interfaces of Different Configurations
• Simulating graphene dynamics in one-dimensional modulated ring array with synthetic dimension
• $\pi$ mode lasing in the non-Hermitian Floquet topological system
• Chiral states in coupled-lasers lattice by on-site complex potential
• Soliton metacrystals: topology and chirality
• Spectral shaping of fast-gain frequency combs through phases in synthetic dimensions
• Topological phase transition of the centered rectangular photonic lattice