Thermal instabilities, frequency-comb formation, and temporal oscillations in Kerr microresonators

Abstract

We analyze the consequences of dissipative heating in driven Kerr microresonators theoretically and numerically, using a thermal Lugiato-Lefever model. We show that thermal sensitivity modifies the stability range of continuous waves in a way that blocks direct access to broadband frequency-comb-forming waveforms, and we propose a deterministic access path that bypasses the thermal instability barrier. We describe a thermal instability that leads to thermo-optical oscillations via a Hopf bifurcation.