Microresonator solitons orbit around a closed waveguide path and produce a repetitive output pulse stream at a rate set by the roundtrip time. Here, counter-propagating solitons that simultaneously orbit in an opposing sense (clockwise/counter-clockwise) are studied. Despite sharing the same spatial mode family, their roundtrip times can be precisely and independently controlled. Furthermore, a state is possible in which their relative optical phase and repetition rates are locked. This state allows a single resonator to produce dual-soliton frequency-comb streams with different repetition rates, but with a high relative coherence that is useful in spectroscopy and ranging.

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Kerry J. Vahala, Xu Yi, Qifan Yang, and Myoung-Gyun Suh, "Physics and applications of counter propagating solitons in microcavities (Conference Presentation)," Proc. SPIE 10904, Laser Resonators, Microresonators, and Beam Control XXI, 109040H (Presented at SPIE LASE: February 05, 2019; Published: 13 March 2019); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2513806.6013185286001.