Phase-locking in cascaded stimulated Brillouin scattering. (1st February 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Büttner, Thomas F S; Poulton, Christopher G; Steel, M J; Hudson, Darren D; Eggleton, Benjamin J
• Is Part Of: New journal of physics. Volume 18:Number 2(2016:Feb.)
• Publication Date: 2016-02-01
• Subjects: stimulated Brillouin scattering -- four-wave mixing -- Kerr-nonlinearity -- frequency comb generation -- phase-locking; Physics -- Periodicals; Physics; Periodicals; 530.05
• DOI: 10.1088/1367-2630/18/2/025003
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1367-2630

Abstract

Abstract: Cascaded stimulated Brillouin scattering is a complex nonlinear optical process that results in the generation of several optical waves that are frequency shifted by an acoustic resonance frequency. Four-wave mixing (FWM) between these Brillouin shifted optical waves can create an equally spaced optical frequency comb with a stable spectral phase, i.e. a Brillouin frequency comb (BFC). Here, we investigate phase-locking of the spectral components of BFCs, considering FWM interactions arising from the Kerr-nonlinearity as well as from coupling by the acoustic field. Deriving for the first time the coupled-mode equations that include all relevant nonlinear interactions, we examine the contribution of the various nonlinear processes to phase-locking, and show that different regimes can be obtained that depend on the length scale on which the field amplitudes vary.