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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Xu Yi, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Virginia, collaborated with Yun-Feng Xiao's group from Peking University and researchers at Caltech to achieve the broadest recorded spectral span in a microcomb^*.

Their peer-reviewed paper, "Chaos-assisted two-octave-spanning microcombs," was published May 11, 2020, in Nature Communications, a multidisciplinary journal dedicated to publishing high-quality research in all areas of the biological, health, physical, chemical and Earth sciences.

[...] The team applied chaos theory to a specific type of photonic device called a microresonator-based frequency comb, or microcomb. The microcomb efficiently converts photons from single to multiple wavelengths. The researchers demonstrated the broadest (i.e., most colorful) microcomb spectral span ever recorded. As photons accumulate and their motion intensifies, the frequency comb generates light in the ultraviolet to infrared spectrum.

"It's like turning a monochrome magic lantern into a technicolor film projector," Yi said. The broad spectrum of light generated from the photons increases its usefulness in spectroscopy, optical clocks and astronomy calibration to search for exoplanets.

The microcomb works by connecting two interdependent elements: a microresonator, which is a ring-shaped micrometer-scale structure that envelopes the photons and generates the frequency comb, and an output bus-waveguide. The waveguide regulates the light emission: only matched speed light can exit from the resonator to the waveguide. As Xiao explained, "It's similar to finding an exit ramp from a highway; no matter how fast you drive, the exit always has a speed limit."

[Ed Comment: See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_comb]

More information: Hao-Jing Chen et al, Chaos-assisted two-octave-spanning microcombs, Nature Communications (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-15914-5

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