Broadband microwave-rate dark pulse microcombs in dissipation-engineered LiNbO3 microresonators

Kerr microcombs generated in optical microresonators provide broadband light sources bridging optical and microwave signals. Their translation to thin-film lithium niobate unlocks second-order nonlinear optical interfaces such as electro-optic modulation and frequency doubling for completing comb functionalities. However, the strong Raman response of LiNbO3 has complicated the formation of Kerr microcombs. Until now, dark pulse microcombs, requiring a double balance between Kerr nonlinearity and normal group velocity dispersion as well as gain and loss, have remained elusive in LiNbO3 microresonators. Here, by incorporating dissipation engineering, we demonstrate dark pulse microcombs with 25 GHz repetition frequency and 200 nm span in a high-Q LiNbO3 microresonator. Resonances near the Raman-active wavelengths are strongly damped by controlling phase-matching conditions of a specially designed pulley coupler. The coherence and tunability of the dark pulse microcombs are also investigated. Our work provides a solution to realize high-power microcombs operating at microwave rates on LiNbO3 chips, promising new opportunities for the monolithic integration of applications spanning communication to microwave photonics.