Optical communication at record-high speed via soliton frequency combs generated in optical microresonators

Optical solitons are special wave packages that propagate without changing their shape. In optical communications, solitons can be used for generating frequency combs with various spectral lines, which allow to realize particularly efficient and compact high-capacity optical communication systems. This was demonstrated recently by researchers from KIT’s Institute of Photonics and Quantum Electronics (IPQ) and Institute of Microstructure Technology (IMT) together with researchers from EPFL’s Laboratory of Photonics and Quantum Measurements (LPQM).