Paint Branch Lecture/Physics colloquium
Description
Rings of Light: Nonlinear Optics in the Age of Integration
Speaker: Kerry Vahala, Caltech
Light can be trapped and stored in microscopic rings of transparent materials, circulating millions of times at a discrete set of resonant frequencies. In these tiny structures, photons linger far longer than intuition would suggest, turning simple rings into extraordinary reservoirs of optical energy. Over the past several decades, advances in fabrication and design have pushed this photon recycling to unprecedented extremes. What began as a curiosity in resonant optics has evolved into a powerful new platform for nonlinear optics, ultra-stable lasers, and precision measurement. After a brief look back at the origins of these devices and the earliest nonlinear demonstrations, this talk will survey recent breakthroughs in ring-resonator technology and systems. A central theme will be the miniaturization of precision metrology to the chip scale: frequency synthesis, optical clocks, and microwave signal generation built from optical frequency microcombs. Integrated routes to highly coherent visible and near-visible light sources will also be highlighted. Finally, we look ahead to the transformative measurement and sensing systems enabled by these tiny rings of light.
Speaker: Kerry Vahala, Caltech
Light can be trapped and stored in microscopic rings of transparent materials, circulating millions of times at a discrete set of resonant frequencies. In these tiny structures, photons linger far longer than intuition would suggest, turning simple rings into extraordinary reservoirs of optical energy. Over the past several decades, advances in fabrication and design have pushed this photon recycling to unprecedented extremes. What began as a curiosity in resonant optics has evolved into a powerful new platform for nonlinear optics, ultra-stable lasers, and precision measurement. After a brief look back at the origins of these devices and the earliest nonlinear demonstrations, this talk will survey recent breakthroughs in ring-resonator technology and systems. A central theme will be the miniaturization of precision metrology to the chip scale: frequency synthesis, optical clocks, and microwave signal generation built from optical frequency microcombs. Integrated routes to highly coherent visible and near-visible light sources will also be highlighted. Finally, we look ahead to the transformative measurement and sensing systems enabled by these tiny rings of light.