High-quality optical ring resonators can confine light in a small volume and store it for millions of roundtrips. They have enabled the dramatic size reduction from laboratory scale to chip level of optical filters, modulators, frequency converters, and frequency comb generators in the visible and the near-infrared. The mid-infrared spectral region (3−12 μm), as important as it is for molecular gas sensing and spectroscopy, lags behind in development of integrated photonic components. Here we demonstrate the integration of mid-infrared ring resonators and directional couplers, incorporating a quantum cascade active region in the waveguide core. It enables electrical control of the resonant frequency, its quality factor, the coupling regime and the coupling coefficient. We show that one device, depending on its operating point, can act as a tunable filter, a nonlinear frequency converter, or a frequency comb generator. These concepts extend to the integration of multiple active resonators and waveguides in arbitrary configurations, thus allowing the implementation of purpose-specific mid-infrared active photonic integrated circuits for spectroscopy, communication, and microwave generation.

Cluster synchronization is a general phenomenon in a network of non-locally coupled oscillators. Here, we show that cluster synchronization occurs in semiconductor lasers, where the beat notes between the pairs of adjacent longitudinal modes of the laser cavity constitute a collection of coupled phase oscillators. Non-local coupling arises from the standing-wave nature of the cavity with finite mirror reflectivities, which we can actively control. Varying the coupling, we can bring the laser into a state of cluster synchronization where the two beat note families oscillate at two distinct collective frequencies. Using a coherent beat note detection technique, we show that the beat notes within the two families are synchronized in the opposite configurations—in-phase and antiphase.

Optical frequency-comb sources, which emit perfectly periodic and coherent waveforms of light1, have recently rapidly progressed towards chip-scale integrated solutions. Among them, two classes are particularly significant–-semiconductor Fabry–Perót lasers2–6 and passive ring Kerr microresonators7–9. Here we merge the two technologies in a ring semiconductor laser10,11 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 equation12–14. 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 crystals15. 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.