Femtosecond dissipative quadratic soliton mode-locking of cavity-enhanced second-harmonic generation

Jonathan Musgrave; Mingming Nie; Shu-Wei Huang

doi:10.1186/s43593-025-00119-4

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Femtosecond dissipative quadratic soliton mode-locking of cavity-enhanced second-harmonic generation

eLight Vol. 6, (2026)

Research Article | Updated：2026-07-21

- Femtosecond dissipative quadratic soliton mode-locking of cavity-enhanced second-harmonic generation
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- DOI：10.1186/s43593-025-00119-4
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- Received：21 August 2025，
  
  Revised：2025-12-29，
  
  Accepted：29 December 2025，
  
  Online First：14 April 2026，
  
  Published：2026-12
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Jonathan Musgrave, Mingming Nie, Shu-Wei Huang. Femtosecond dissipative quadratic soliton mode-locking of cavity-enhanced second-harmonic generation[J]. eLight, 2026, 6.
DOI：

Jonathan Musgrave, Mingming Nie, Shu-Wei Huang. Femtosecond dissipative quadratic soliton mode-locking of cavity-enhanced second-harmonic generation[J]. eLight, 2026, 6. DOI： 10.1186/s43593-025-00119-4.

摘要

Abstract

Nonlinear frequency conversion underpins numerous classical and quantum photonics applications but conventionally relies on synchronized femtosecond mode-locked lasers and dispersion-engineered enhancement cavities—an approach that imposes substantial system complexity. To address the challenges

here we report a fundamentally different paradigm: mode-locking of nonlinear frequency conversion enabled by the physics of dissipative quadratic soliton (DQS). We present the operating principle of femtosecond DQS mode-locking and experimentally validate it for the first time in a continuous-wave-pumped doubly resonant second-harmonic generator in free space

yielding bichromatic frequency combs spanning the visible and near-infrared. The observed DQSs exhibit 3 dB optical bandwidths and transform-limited pulse durations of 1.15 THz and 274 fs for the pump and 1.13 THz and 279 fs for the second harmonic. By harnessing phase-matched group-velocity-matched cascaded quadratic nonlinearities

we demonstrate an in-situ tunable effective Kerr nonlinearity that exceeds the intrinsic material response by over three orders of magnitude

enabling femtosecond DQS generation in both free-space and chip-scale cavities across normal and anomalous dispersion regimes. Our results establish a simple

flexible

and scalable approach to nonlinear frequency conversion without the need for synchronized femtosecond mode-locked lasers and expand the reach of soliton-based technologies across diverse cavity platforms and a wide range of challenging wavelengths that are otherwise inaccessible.

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references

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