Nozaki–Bekki solitons in semiconductor lasers

Optical frequency-comb sources, which emit perfectly periodic and coherent waveforms of light 1, have recently rapidly progressed towards chip-scale integrated solutions. Among them, two classes are particularly significant—semiconductor Fabry–Perót lasers 2–6 and passive ring Kerr microresonators 7–9. Here we merge the two technologies in a ring semiconductor laser 10,11 and demonstrate a paradigm for the formation of free-running solitons, called Nozaki–Bekki solitons. These dissipative waveforms emerge in a family of travelling localized dark pulses, known within the complex Ginzburg–Landau equation 12–14. We show that Nozaki–Bekki solitons are structurally stable in a ring laser and form spontaneously with tuning of the laser bias, eliminating the need for an external optical pump. By combining conclusive experimental findings and a complementary elaborate theoretical model, we reveal the salient characteristics of these solitons and provide guidelines for their generation. Beyond the fundamental soliton circulating inside the ring laser, we demonstrate multisoliton states as well, verifying their localized nature and offering an insight into formation of soliton crystals 15. Our results consolidate a monolithic electrically driven platform for direct soliton generation and open the door for a research field at the junction of laser multimode dynamics and Kerr parametric processes.