We have two postdoc positions available. Research topics include microcombs, neuromorphic computing, chip based quantum light states, nonlinear optics, optical clocks and microfabrication of photonic chips in our in-house cleanroom.
If you are interested and have a research background in these topics, please get in touch with your CV.
Check out our new microcomb simulator and play around with dispersion, detuning and power. Microcomb Simulator
Our group successfully finished a laserhandling course, including evasion of laserbeams and extremely fast laser alignment 🙂
Our research group was very involved in the filming of “Tracing Light”. The film explores light in many facets between art and science. It will be shown in cinemas across Germany starting Jan 16th 2025.
Tracing Light Infos
Official Trailer
The new book “Optical Frequency Combs – Trends in Sources and Applications” has been published. It includes a chapter from our group on microresonator frequency combs.
https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003427605
Our new paper about light distribution patterns in chains of microresonators has been published. This can be used to guide light through photonic circuits and for optical data processing.
Photonics Research 10, 2376 (Editor’s pick!)
We demonstrate a new method for Hz-level spectroscopy with a scanning diode laser. Instead of using a frequency comb, this method relies on adding modulation sidebands to the scanning diode laser and linking it on-the-fly to a reference cavity.
Advanced Photonics 6, 046003
SPIE News Article
Our group will be at CLEO Europe in Munich from June 26th to June 30th and present our research projects in 9 talks.
Link to conference program
Our new paper on optical light plateaus in microresonators has been published. This work has been done in collaboration with Gian-Luca Oppo and Graeme Campbell at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.106.043507 – arXiv
We will be presenting at the upcoming CLEO conference in San Jose, California (15-20 May):
Lewis Hill, “Nested spontaneous symmetry breaking” 17 May
Shuangyou Zhang, “Dark-Bright Soliton Frequency Combs” 18 May
Leonardo Del Bino, “All-optical Kerr Polarization Controller” 19 May
Our new paper on bound states of dark and bright solitons in microresonators has been published in PRL. This can be used to broaden frequency combs across different dispersion regimes.
âž” Physical Review Letters, 128, 033901
âž” Press Release
Together with colleagues from Switzerland, Germany and the UK we have demonstrated a polarization controller that is operated purely by light using the Kerr-effect.
âž” Nature Communications, 13, 398
âž” Press Release
Our work on Kerr-effect enhancement of the rotation sensitivity of microresonator gyroscopes has been published in Optica.
âž” Optica 8, 1219-1226
A great interview with Shuangyou Zhang about his Marie Curie Multiply Fellowship. His work on low power microcombs was one of the top-downloaded frequency comb papers of the last years in Optica. Read more here: bit.ly/3sdENFy
We report the experimental and numerical observation of oscillatory switching between counter-propagating light beams in Kerr ring microresonators. This effect well captured by a simple coupled dynamical system featuring only the self- and cross-phase Kerr nonlinearities. Self-switching of counterpropagating light is robust for realizing controllable, all-optical generation of waveforms, signal encoding, and chaotic cryptography. Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 043901
We demonstrate how the Kerr nonlinearity can be a key enabler for many digital photonic circuits. It allows access to bistable states needed for all-optical memories and switches that can operate at a single laser frequency with no additional electrical power. Opt. Express 29, 2193-2203 (2021)
We demonstrate a technique for suppressing backscattered light in a whispering-gallery-mode resonator by positioning a sub-wavelength-size scatterer within its evanescent field, achieving at least 34 dB suppression compared to the intrinsic backscattering. Read more: Light Sci Appl 9, 204 (2020) or press release.
Broadband frequency combs are a key enabling technology for frequency metrology and spectroscopy. Here, we demonstrate that the spectrum of a soliton microcomb can be extended by bi-chromatic pumping resulting in two combs that synchronize their repetition rate via cross-phase modulation. Read more: Nat Commun 11, 6384 (2020)
Toby recently visited Airbus Defence and Space to perform R&D experiments on advanced space optics components. The visit was a collaboration between Airbus and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light through the Horizon 2020 MICROCOMB network.
Congratulations to Andreas Svela for winning a prize for his talk at the Imperial College Faculty of Natural Sciences research showcase. The showcase presentation is aimed at a broader audience, explaining the backscatter suppression work published in Light Sci Appl 9, 204 (2020). Watch the Presentation here.
Our group will be presenting our most recent research results at the FiO-LS virtual conference. All our talks are on Wednesday 16 September (CET times).
Our paper on the direct measurement of the mode splitting induced by the Kerr effect has been published in Physical Review Letters. Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 223901
Congratulations to Leonardo for passing his (virtual) PhD viva! Thanks also to his examiners and co-supervisors Derryck Reid, Frank Vollmer, and Marcello Ferrera.
Our paper on logic gates Based on Interaction of Counterpropagating Light in Microresonators has been published in Journal of Lightwave Technology. J. Lightwave Technol. 38, 1414-1419
Our paper on the effects of self- and cross-phase modulation on the spontaneous symmetry breaking of light in ring resonators has been published in Physical Review A. Phys. Rev. A 101, 013823