Stability and variational analysis of cavity solitons under various perturbations

Abstract: We theoretically investigate the dynamics and stability of a temporal cavity soliton (CS) excited inside a silicon-based microresonator that exhibits free-carrier generation as a result of two-photon absorption (TPA). The optical propagation of the CS is modeled through a mean-field Lugiato-Lefever equation (LLE) coupled with an ordinary differential equation accounting for the generation of free carriers owing to TPA. The CS experiences several perturbations (like intrapulse Raman scattering (IRS), TPA, free-carrier absorption (FCA), free-carrier dispersion (FCD), etc.) during its round-trip evolution inside the cavity. We develop a full variational analysis based on a Ritz optimization principle which is useful in deriving simple analytical expressions describing the dynamics of individual pulse parameters of the CS under perturbation. TPA and FCA limit the efficient comb generation and modify the stability condition of the CS. We determine the critical condition of stability modified due to TPA and derive closed-form expressions of the saturated amplitude and width of stable CS. We perform detailed modulation-instability analysis and obtain stability condition against perturbations of steady-state solution of LLE. The CS experiences FCD which leads to a temporal acceleration resulting in spectral blueshift. Exploiting the variational analysis, we estimate these temporal and spectral shifts. We also include IRS in our perturbation theory and analytically estimate the frequency redshifting. Finally, we study the effect of pump-phase-modulation on a stable CS. All our analytical results are found to be in good agreement with the data obtained from the full numerical solution of LLE.