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We consider an optical resonator containing a photonic crystal fiber and driven coherently by an injected beam. This device is described by a generalized Lugiato-Lefever equation with fourth order dispersion. We use an asymptotic approach to derive interaction equations governing the slow time evolution of the coordinates of two interacting dissipative solitons. We show that Cherenkov radiation induced by positive fourth-order dispersion leads to a strong increase of the interaction force between the solitons. As a consequence, large number of equidistant soliton bound states in the phase space of the interaction equations can be stabilized. We show that the presence of even small spectral filtering not only dampens the Cherenkov radiation at the soliton tails and reduces the interaction strength, but can also affect the the bound state stability., Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures

We report the existence of stable dissipative light bullets in Kerr cavities. These three-dimensional (3D) localized structures consist of either an isolated light bullet (LB), or could occur in clusters forming well-defined 3D patterns. They can be seen as stationary states in the reference frame moving with the group velocity of light within the cavity. The number of LBs and their distribution in 3D settings are determined by the initial conditions while their maximum peak power remains constant for a fixed value of the system parameters. Their bifurcation diagram allows us to explain this phenomenon as a manifestation of homoclinic snaking for dissipative light bullets. However, when the strength of the injected beam is increased, LBs lose their stability and the cavity field exhibits giant, short living three-dimensional pulses. The statistical characterization of pulse amplitude reveals a long tail probability distribution indicating the occurrence of extreme events; often called rogue waves.

Spontaneous emergence of self-organized patterns and their bifurcations towards a regime of complex dynamics in non-equilibrium dissipative systems is a paradigm of phase transition. Indeed, the behavior of these patterns in the highly nonlinear regime remains less explored, even in recent high-quality-factor resonators such as Kerr-nonlinear optical ones. Here, we investigate theoretically and experimentally the alteration of the resulting Kerr frequency combs from the weakly to the highly nonlinear regime, in the frameworks of spatiotemporal chaos, and dissipative phase transitions. We reveal the existence of a striking and easily accessible scenario of spatiotemporal chaos, free of cavity solitons, in a monostable operating regime, wherein a transition to amplitude turbulence via spatiotemporal intermittency is evidenced. Moreover, statistics of the light bursts in the resulting turbulent regime unveils the existence of rogue waves as extreme events characterized by long-tail statistics.

The influence of Raman scattering and higher order dispersions on solitons and frequency comb generation in silica microring resonators is investigated. The Raman effect introduces a threshold value in the resonator quality factor above which the frequency locked solitons can not exist and, instead, a rich dynamics characterized by generation of self-frequency shift- ing solitons and dispersive waves is observed. A mechanism of broadening of the Cherenkov radiation through Hopf instability of the frequency locked solitons is also reported., Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures

It is analytically shown that symmetry breaking, in dissipative systems, affects the nature of the bifurcation at onset of instability resulting in transitions from super to subcritical bifurcations. In the case of a nonlinear fiber cavity, we have derived an amplitude equation to describe the nonlinear dynamics above threshold. An analytical expression of the critical transition curve is obtained and the predictions are in excellent agreement with the numerical solutions of the full dynamical model., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures

Freak waves, or rogue waves, are one of the fascinating manifestations of the strength of nature. These devastating walls of water appear from nowhere, are short-lived and extremely rare. Despite the large amount of research activities on this subject, neither the minimum ingredients required for their generation nor the mechanisms explaining their formation have been given. Today, it is possible to reproduce such kind of waves in optical fibre systems. In this context, we demonstrate theoretically and numerically that convective instability is the basic ingredient for the formation of rogue waves. This explains why rogues waves are extremely sensitive to noisy environments., Comment: two movies, 1 text file