Power-efficient ultra-broadband soliton microcombs in resonantly-coupled microresonators

Kaixuan Zhu; Xinrui Luo; Yuanlei Wang; Ze Wang; Tianyu Xu; Du Qian; Yinke Cheng; Junqi Wang; Haoyang Luo; Yanwu Liu; Xing Jin; Zhenyu Xie; Xin Zhou; Min Wang; Jian-Fei Liu; Xuening Cao; Ting Wang; Shui-Jing Tang; Qihuang Gong; Bei-Bei Li; Qi-Fan Yang

doi:10.1038/s41377-026-02186-9

Your Location：

Home >

Browse articles >

Power-efficient ultra-broadband soliton microcombs in resonantly-coupled microresonators

Original Articles

- Power-efficient ultra-broadband soliton microcombs in resonantly-coupled microresonators
- Light: Science & Applications Vol. 15, Issue 6, Pages: 2037-2045(2026)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.State Key Laboratory for Artificial Microstructure and Mesoscopic Physics and Frontiers Science Center for Nano-optoelectronics, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, China
  2.Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
  3.National Biomedical Imaging Center, College of Future Technology, Peking University, Beijing, China
  4.Peking University Yangtze Delta Institute of Optoelectronics, Nantong, Jiangsu, China
  5.Collaborative Innovation Center of Extreme Optics, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, China
- Author bio：
  
  Qi-Fan Yang (leonardoyoung@pku.edu.cn)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1038/s41377-026-02186-9
  CLC：
- Received：08 August 2025，
  
  Revised：2026-01-04，
  
  Accepted：07 January 2026，
  
  Online First：30 March 2026，
  
  Published：30 June 2026
- Accepted：
Scan QR Code
Zhu, K. X. et al. Power-efficient ultra-broadband soliton microcombs in resonantly-coupled microresonators. Light: Science & Applications, 15, 2037-2045 (2026).
DOI：

Zhu, K. X. et al. Power-efficient ultra-broadband soliton microcombs in resonantly-coupled microresonators. Light: Science & Applications, 15, 2037-2045 (2026). DOI： 10.1038/s41377-026-02186-9.

摘要

Abstract

The drive to miniaturize optical frequency combs for practical deployment has spotlighted microresonator solitons as a promising chip-scale candidate. However

these soliton microcombs could be very power-hungry when their span increases

especially with fine comb spacings. As a result

realizing an octave-spanning comb at microwave repetition rates for direct optical-microwave linkage is considered not possible for photonic integration due to the high power requirements. Here

we introduce the concept of resonant-coupling to soliton microcombs to reduce pump consumption significantly. Compared to conventional waveguide-coupled designs

we demonstrate (i) a threefold increase in spectral span for high-power combs and (ii) up to a tenfold reduction in repetition frequency for octave-spanning operation. This configuration is compatible with laser integration and yields reliable

turnkey soliton generation. By eliminating the long-standing pump-power bottleneck

microcombs will soon become readily available for portable optical clocks

massively parallel data links

and field-deployable spectrometers.

关键词

Keywords

references

Lezius, M. et al. Space-borne frequency comb metrology. Optica 3 , 1381–1387 (2016)..

Roslund, J. D. et al. Optical clocks at sea. Nature 628 , 736–740 (2024)..

Hilton, A. P. et al. Demonstration of a mobile optical clock ensemble at sea. Nat. Commun. 16 , 6063 (2025)..

Herr, T. et al. Temporal solitons in optical microresonators. Nat. Photonics 8 , 145–152 (2014)..

Yi, X. et al. Soliton frequency comb at microwave rates in a high- Q silica microresonator. Optica 2 , 1078–1085 (2015)..

Brasch, V. et al. Photonic chip–based optical frequency comb using soliton Cherenkov radiation. Science 351 , 357–360 (2016)..

Spencer, D. T. et al. An optical-frequency synthesizer using integrated photonics. Nature 557 , 81–85 (2018)..

Newman, Z. L. et al. Architecture for the photonic integration of an optical atomic clock. Optica 6 , 680–685 (2019)..

Drake, T. E. et al. Terahertz-rate Kerr-microresonator optical clockwork. Phys. Rev. X 9 , 031023 (2019)..

Suh, M. G. et al. M icroresonator soliton dual-comb spectroscopy. Science 354 , 600–603 (2016)..

Dutt, A. et al. On-chip dual-comb source for spectroscopy. Sci. Adv. 4 ,e1701858 (2018)..

Yang, Q. F. et al. Vernier spectrometer using counterpropagating soliton microcombs. Science 363 , 965–968 (2019)..

Bao, C. Y. et al. Architecture for microcomb-based GHz-mid-infrared dual-comb spectroscopy. Nat. Commun. 12 , 6573 (2021)..

Diakonov, A. et al. Broadband cavity-enhanced Kerr comb spectroscopy on chip. npj Nanophotonics 1 , 47 (2024)..

Marin-Palomo, P. et al. Microresonator-based solitons for massively parallel coherent optical communications. Nature 546 , 274–279 (2017)..

Feldmann, J. et al. Parallel convolutional processing using an integrated photonic tensor core. Nature 589 , 52–58 (2021)..

Shu, H. W. et al. Microcomb-driven silicon photonic systems. Nature 605 , 457–463 (2022)..

Corcoran, B. et al. Optical microcombs for ultrahigh-bandwidth communications. Nat. Photonics 19 , 451–462 (2025)..

Telle, H. R. et al. Carrier-envelope offset phase control: a novel concept for absolute optical frequency measurement and ultrashort pulse generation. Appl. Phys. B 69 , 327–332 (1999)..

Yang, Q. F. et al. Efficient microresonator frequency combs. eLight 4 , 18 (2024)..

Xue, X. X., Zheng, X. P. & Zhou, B. K. Super-efficient temporal solitons in mutually coupled optical cavities. Nat. Photonics 13 , 616–622 (2019)..

Hu, Y. W. et al. High-efficiency and broadband on-chip electro-optic frequency comb generators. Nat. Photonics 16 , 679–685 (2022)..

Helgason, ÓB. et al. Surpassing the nonlinear conversion efficiency of soliton microcombs. Nat. Photonics 17 , 992–999 (2023)..

Yi, X. et al. Theory and measurement of the soliton self-frequency shift and efficiency in optical microcavities. Opt. Lett. 41 , 3419–3422 (2016)..

Wang, Y. D. et al. Stimulated Raman scattering imposes fundamental limits to the duration and bandwidth of temporal cavity solitons. Phys. Rev. Lett. 120 , 053902 (2018)..

Parra-Rivas, P. et al. Third-order chromatic dispersion stabilizes Kerr frequency combs. Opt. Lett. 39 , 2971–2974 (2014)..

Li, Z. D. et al. Observations of existence and instability dynamics of near-zero-dispersion temporal Kerr cavity solitons. Phys. Rev. Res. 3 , 043207 (2021)..

Karpov, M. et al. Raman self-frequency shift of dissipative Kerr solitons in an optical microresonator. Phys. Rev. Lett. 116 , 103902 (2016)..

Yi, X. et al. Single-mode dispersive waves and soliton microcomb dynamics. Nat. Commun. 8 , 14869 (2017)..

Liu, R. W. et al. Low-phase-noise microwave generation with a free-running dual-pumped Si3N4 soliton microcomb. Opt. Lett. 49 , 754–757 (2024)..

Liang, W. et al. High spectral purity Kerr frequency comb radio frequency photonic oscillator. Nat. Commun. 6 , 7957 (2015)..

Raja, A. S. et al. Electrically pumped photonic integrated soliton microcomb. Nat. Commun. 10 , 680 (2019)..

Shen, B. Q. et al. Integrated turnkey soliton microcombs. Nature 582 , 365–369 (2020)..

Jin, W. et al. Hertz-linewidth semiconductor lasers using CMOS-ready ultra-high- Q microresonators. Nat. Photonics 15 , 346–353 (2021)..

Ulanov, A. E. et al. Synthetic reflection self-injection-locked microcombs. Nat. Photonics 18 , 294–299 (2024)..

Xie, X. P. et al. Photonic microwave signals with zeptosecond-level absolute timing noise. Nat. Photonics 11 , 44–47 (2017)..

Suh, M. G. et al. Searching for exoplanets using a microresonator astrocomb. Nat. Photonics 13 , 25–30 (2019)..

Obrzud, E. et al. A microphotonic astrocomb. Nat. Photonics 13 , 31–35 (2019)..

Hu, J. et al. Maximizing transmission capacity in optical communication systems utilizing a microresonator comb laser source with adaptive modulation and bandwidth allocation strategies. Photonics Res. 12 , 2573–2580 (2024)..

Jørgensen,A. A. et al. Petabit-per-second data transmission using a chip-scale microcomb ring resonator source. Nat. Photonics 16 , 798–802 (2022)..

Zhang, C. B. et al. Clone-comb-enabled high-capacity digital-analogue fronthaul with high-order modulation formats. Nat. Photonics 17 , 1000–1008 (2023)..

Li, Q. et al. Stably accessing octave-spanning microresonator frequency combs in the soliton regime. Optica 4 , 193–203 (2017)..

Pfeiffer, M. H. P. et al. Octave-spanning dissipative Kerr soliton frequency combs in Si3N4 microresonators. Optica 4 , 684–691 (2017)..

Liu, X. W. et al. Aluminum nitride nanophotonics for beyond-octave soliton microcomb ge neration and self-referencing. Nat. Commun. 12 , 5428 (2021)..

Song, Y. X. et al. Octave-spanning Kerr soliton frequency combs in dispersion-and dissipation-engineered lithium niobate microresonators. Light Sci. Appl. 13 , 225 (2024)..

Lugiato, L. A. & Lefever, R. Spatial dissipative structures in passive optical systems. Phys. Rev. Lett. 58 , 2209–2211 (1987)..

Wang, Y. L. et al. Compact turnkey soliton microcombs at microwave rates via wafer-scale fabrication. Laser Photonics Rev. e01659 (2026).

Lao, C. H. et al. Quantum decoherence of dark pulses in optical microresonators. Nat. Commun. 14 , 1802 (2023)..

Weng, H. Z. et al. Thermally controlled dual-mode Si3N4 microresonators for generation of octave-spanning Kerr solitons. Phys. Rev. Appl. 23 , 034029 (2025)..

Zang, J. Z. et al. Foundry manufacturing of octave-spanning microcombs. Opt. Lett. 49 , 5143–5146 (2024)..

Briles, T. C. et al. Generating octave-bandwidth soliton frequency combs with compact low-power semiconductor lasers. Phys. Rev. Appl. 14 , 014006 (2020)..

Briles, T. C. et al. Interlocking Kerr-microresonator frequency combs for microwave to optical synthesis. Opt. Lett. 43 , 2933–2936 (2018)..

Briles, T. C. et al. Hybrid InP and SiN integration of an octave-spanning frequency comb. APL Photonics 6 , 026102 (2021)..

Weng, H. Z. et al. Dual-mode microresonators as straightforward access to octave-spanning dissipative Kerr solitons. APL Photonics 7 , 066103 (2022)..

Jacobsen, A. et al. Octave-spanning soliton microcomb with over 50% conversion efficiency enabled by strong mode coupling. 2025 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference. Munich, Germany: IEEE, 1 , (2025).

Weng, H. Z. et al. Directly accessing octave-spanning dissipative Kerr soliton frequency combs in an AlN microresonator. Photonics Res. 9 , 1351–1357 (2021)..

Gu, J. X. et al. Octave-spannin g soliton microcomb in silica microdisk resonators. Opt. Lett. 48 , 1100–1103 (2023)..

He, Y. et al. Octave-spanning lithium niobate soliton microcombs. Proceedings of 2021 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics. San Jose, CA, USA: IEEE, 1-2 (2021).

Wang, P. Y. et al. Octave soliton microcombs in lithium niobate microresonators. Opt. Lett. 49 , 1729–1732 (2024)..

Views

Downloads

CSCD

Alert me when the article has been cited

Submit

Tools

Publicity Resources

Dual-comb absolute ranging reaches orbit

Multifunctional ligand engineering for pure-blue halide perovskite nanocrystal LEDs

Quantum-enhanced reconfigurable in-memory stochastic computing

Highly efficient and ultrahigh-resolution quantum dot light-emitting diodes via photoisomeric transformation

Organic small-molecule NIR-Ⅱ fluorophores for tumor phototheranostics

Related Author

No data

Related Institution

No data

⁰