Efficient Raman lasing and Raman-Kerr interaction in an integrated silicon carbide platform

Abstract: Implementing stimulated Raman scattering in a low-loss microresonator could lead to Raman lasing. Here, we report the demonstration of an efficient Raman laser with $>50 \%$ power efficiency in an integrated silicon carbide platform for the first time. By fine tuning the free spectral range (FSR) of 43-$\mu$m-radius silicon carbide microresonators, the Stokes resonance corresponding to the dominant Raman shift of $777\ \text{cm}^{-1}$ ($23.3$ THz) is aligned to the center of the Raman gain spectrum, resulting in a low power threshold of $2.5$ mW. The peak Raman gain coefficient is estimated to be ($0.75 \pm 0.15) \ \text{cm}/\text{GW}$ in the 1550 nm band, with an approximate full width at half maximum of ($120 \pm 30$) GHz. In addition, the microresonator is designed to exhibit normal dispersion at the pump wavelength near 1550 nm while possessing anomalous dispersion at the first Stokes near 1760 nm. At high enough input powers, a Kerr microcomb is generated by the Stokes signal acting as the secondary pump, which then mixes with the pump laser through four-wave mixing to attain a wider spectral coverage. Furthermore, cascaded Raman lasing and occurrence of multiple Raman shifts, including $204\ \text{cm}^{-1}$ ($6.1$ THz) and $266\ \text{cm}^{-1}$ ($8.0$ THz) transitions, are also observed. Finally, we show that the Stokes Raman could also help broaden the spectrum in a Kerr microcomb which has anomalous dispersion at the pump wavelength. Our example of a 100-GHz-FSR microcomb has a wavelength span from 1200 nm to 1900 nm with 300 mW on-chip power.