Bound states of gain-guided solitons in a passively mode-locked fiber laser

Multi-Pulse Bound Soliton Fiber Laser Based on MoTe2 Saturable Absorber

Bound solitons have become a hot topic in the field of nonlinear optics due to their potential applications in optical communication, information processing and radar systems. However, the trapping of the cascaded bound soliton is still a major challenge up to now. Here, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a multi-pulse bound soliton fiber laser based on MoTe₂ saturable absorber. In the experiment, MoTe₂ nanosheets were synthesized by chemical vapor deposition and transferred to the fiber taper by optical deposition. Then, by inserting the MoTe₂ saturable absorber into a ring cavity laser, the two-pulse, three-pulse and four-pulse bound solitons can be stably generated by properly adjusting the pump strength and polarization state. These cascaded bound solitons are expected to be applied to all-optical communication and bring new ideas to the study of soliton lasers.

Sub-150 fs dispersion-managed soliton generation from an all-fiber Tm-doped laser with BP-SA

We demonstrate an all-fiber, thulium-doped, mode-locked laser using a black phosphorus (BP) saturable absorber (SA). The BP-SA, exhibiting strong nonlinear response, is fabricated by inkjet printing. The oscillator generates self-starting 139 fs dispersion-managed soliton pulses centered at 1859nm with 55.6 nm spectral bandwidth. This is the shortest pulse duration and widest spectral bandwidth achieved directly from an all-fiber thulium-doped fiber laser mode-locked with a nanomaterial saturable absorber to date. Our findings demonstrate the applicability of BP for femtosecond pulse generation at 2 µm spectral region.

Various soliton molecules in fiber systems

Generation and propagation of various soliton molecules (SMs) in fiber systems are reviewed. SMs can survive either in fibers or fiber lasers. A dispersion-managed (DM) fiber link is the only platform for SM demonstration, while various fiber lasers can support different SMs. The fundamental unit of SMs can be conventional solitons generated in an anomalous dispersion regime, stretched pulses in DM fiber lasers, parabolic pulses, or gain-guided solitons in a normal dispersion regime. SMs with typically close soliton separation are presented. In addition, we demonstrate a new kind of SM with nanosecond soliton separation. The narrow spectral filtering is required for the generation of SMs with such long-distance interaction.

Observation of soliton molecules in a spatiotemporal mode-locked multimode fiber laser

We report on the first experimental observation, to the best of our knowledge, of soliton molecules in a spatiotemporal mode-locked multimode fiber (MMF) laser. By adjusting the waveplates inside the cavity, not only the spatiotemporal mode-locking state with a stable single pulse but also soliton molecules are observed. Various soliton molecules, including soliton pairs, soliton triplets, and soliton quartets with different pulse separations, are achieved. Transition of different operation states with pump power is given. The results would be beneficial for further understanding of the nonlinear dynamics in spatiotemporal mode-locked MMF lasers.

Bound Pulse Trains in Arrays of Coupled Spatially Extended Dynamical Systems

We study the dynamics of an array of nearest-neighbor coupled spatially distributed systems each generating a periodic sequence of short pulses. We demonstrate that, unlike a solitary system generating a train of equidistant pulses, an array of such systems can produce a sequence of clusters of closely packed pulses, with the distance between individual pulses depending on the coupling phase. This regime associated with the formation of locally coupled pulse trains bounded due to a balance of attraction and repulsion between them is different from the pulse bound states reported earlier in different laser, plasma, chemical, and biological systems. We propose a simplified analytical description of the observed phenomenon, which is in good agreement with the results of direct numerical simulations of a model system describing an array of coupled mode-locked lasers.

Group-velocity-locked vector soliton molecules in fiber lasers

Physics phenomena of multi-soliton complexes have enriched the life of dissipative solitons in fiber lasers. By developing a birefringence-enhanced fiber laser, we report the first experimental observation of group-velocity-locked vector soliton (GVLVS) molecules. The birefringence-enhanced fiber laser facilitates the generation of GVLVSs, where the two orthogonally polarized components are coupled together to form a multi-soliton complex. Moreover, the interaction of repulsive and attractive forces between multiple pulses binds the particle-like GVLVSs together in time domain to further form compound multi-soliton complexes, namely GVLVS molecules. By adopting the polarization-resolved measurement, we show that the two orthogonally polarized components of the GVLVS molecules are both soliton molecules supported by the strongly modulated spectral fringes and the double-humped intensity profiles. Additionally, GVLVS molecules with various soliton separations are also observed by adjusting the pump power and the polarization controller.

Discrete bisoliton fiber laser

Dissipative solitons, which result from the intricate balance between dispersion and nonlinearity as well as gain and loss, are of the fundamental scientific interest and numerous important applications. Here, we report a fiber laser that generates bisoliton – two consecutive dissipative solitons that preserve a fixed separation between them. Deviations from this separation result in its restoration. It is also found that these bisolitons have multiple discrete equilibrium distances with the quantized separations, as is confirmed by the theoretical analysis and the experimental observations. The main feature of our laser is the anomalous dispersion that is increased by an order of magnitude in comparison to previous studies. Then the spectral filtering effect plays a significant role in pulse-shaping. The proposed laser has the potential applications in optical communications and high-resolution optics for coding and transmission of information in higher-level modulation formats.

Pulse bursts with a controllable number of pulses from a mode-locked Yb-doped all fiber laser system

Pulse bursts with a controllable number of pulses per burst have been produced directly from a mode-locked Yb-doped fiber laser for the first time. Each output burst contained numerous pulses with a high pulse repetition rate of 29.4 MHz. The duration of a single pulse was 680 ps. The pulse burst had a repetition rate of 251.6 kHz. The pulse burst could easily be further amplified to a total pulse burst energy of ~795 nJ, corresponding to a total average power of 200 mW.