Offset Dual Microcombs in a Single Microresonator: Kerr-Raman Interleaved Combs
Abstract
Integrated Kerr microcombs have emerged as a central platform for chip-scale nonlinear photonics. One of their most compelling applications is dual-comb technology, which enables fast, high-resolution, coherent optical spectroscopy, precision metrology, ranging, and ultrasensitive sensing by interfering two frequency combs with slightly different repetition rates. However, no effective strategy yet exists to synergistically excite multiple spatial mode families, manage mode competition and energy partitioning, and precisely engineer dispersion, leaving offset co-propagating dual-microcombs in a single resonator elusive. Here we demonstrate a new mechanism for offset dual microcombs formation via Kerr-Raman interleaving for the first time, by leveraging single Raman-active thin-film lithium niobate microrings. Two spatial mode families with high loaded Q factors up to 5 million are dispersion engineered to have nearly identical free-spectral-ranges but a designed relative frequency offset. Stimulated Raman scattering efficiently generates a Raman comb in one family alongside a Kerr comb in the other. The two combs interleave with a fractional offset to form a broadband, densely interleaved spectrum. Pumping the microring at only 320 mW yields Kerr-Raman interleaved dual combs both featuring nearly identical repetition rates around 102 GHz with a small difference of 675 MHz, a relatively flat envelope exceeding 29 nm and an intrinsic comb-line linewidth of 410 Hz. Our results establish offset dual-comb generation in a single microresonator, enabling compact dual-comb sources for chip-scale precision spectroscopy, Vernier-enhanced sensing, and advanced quantum photonics.
Related
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BibTeX
@misc{gao2026offset,
title = {{Offset Dual Microcombs in a Single Microresonator: Kerr-Raman Interleaved Combs}},
author = {Renhong Gao and Qifeng Hou and Xinzhi Zheng and Bin Li and Guanghui Zhao and Yingnuo Qiu and Xinke Xing and Boyang Nan and Yixuan Yang and Saisai Sun and Kunpeng Jia and Zhenda Xie and Jintian Lin and Shining Zhu and Ya Cheng},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.18640},
eprint = {2609.18640},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.18640},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Offset Dual Microcombs in a Single Microresonator: Kerr-Raman Interleaved Combs
AU - Renhong Gao
AU - Qifeng Hou
AU - Xinzhi Zheng
AU - Bin Li
AU - Guanghui Zhao
AU - Yingnuo Qiu
AU - Xinke Xing
AU - Boyang Nan
AU - Yixuan Yang
AU - Saisai Sun
AU - Kunpeng Jia
AU - Zhenda Xie
AU - Jintian Lin
AU - Shining Zhu
AU - Ya Cheng
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/16
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.18640
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.18640
AB - Integrated Kerr microcombs have emerged as a central platform for chip-scale nonlinear photonics. One of their most compelling applications is dual-comb technology, which enables fast, high-resolution, coherent optical spectroscopy, precision metrology, ranging, and ultrasensitive sensing by interfering two frequency combs with slightly different repetition rates. However, no effective strategy yet exists to synergistically excite multiple spatial mode families, manage mode competition and energy partitioning, and precisely engineer dispersion, leaving offset co-propagating dual-microcombs in a single resonator elusive. Here we demonstrate a new mechanism for offset dual microcombs formation via Kerr-Raman interleaving for the first time, by leveraging single Raman-active thin-film lithium niobate microrings. Two spatial mode families with high loaded Q factors up to 5 million are dispersion engineered to have nearly identical free-spectral-ranges but a designed relative frequency offset. Stimulated Raman scattering efficiently generates a Raman comb in one family alongside a Kerr comb in the other. The two combs interleave with a fractional offset to form a broadband, densely interleaved spectrum. Pumping the microring at only 320 mW yields Kerr-Raman interleaved dual combs both featuring nearly identical repetition rates around 102 GHz with a small difference of 675 MHz, a relatively flat envelope exceeding 29 nm and an intrinsic comb-line linewidth of 410 Hz. Our results establish offset dual-comb generation in a single microresonator, enabling compact dual-comb sources for chip-scale precision spectroscopy, Vernier-enhanced sensing, and advanced quantum photonics.
ER -