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Numerical simulations of a dissipative soliton-similariton laser are shown to reproduce a range of instabilities seen in recent experiments. The model uses a scalar nonlinear Schrödinger equation map, and regions of stability and instability are readily identified as a function of gain and saturable absorber parameters. Studying evolution over multiple round trips reveals spectral instabilities linked with soliton molecule internal motion, soliton explosions, chaos, and intermittence. For the case of soliton molecules, the relative phase variation in the spectrum is shown to be due to differences in nonlinear phase evolution between the molecule components over multiple round trips.

The study of dissipative solitons in mode-locked lasers reveals a rich landscape of interaction dynamics resulting from the interplay of nonlinearity, dispersion and dissipation. Here, we characterize a range of instabilities in a dissipative soliton fibre laser in a regime where both conventional soliton and similariton propagation play significant roles in the intracavity pulse shaping. Specifically, we use the Dispersive Fourier Transform technique to perform real-time spectral measurements of buildup dynamics from noise to the generation of stable single pulses, phase evolution dynamics of bound state "similariton molecules", and several examples of intermittent instability and explosion dynamics. These results show that the instabilities previously seen in other classes of passively mode-locked fibre lasers are also observed in the presence of strong nonlinear attraction of similariton evolution in an optical fibre amplifier.

A central research area in nonlinear science is the study of instabilities that drive extreme events. Unfortunately, techniques for measuring such phenomena often provide only partial characterisation. For example, real-time studies of instabilities in nonlinear optics frequently use only spectral data, limiting knowledge of associated temporal properties. Here, we show how machine learning can overcome this restriction to study time-domain properties of optical fibre modulation instability based only on spectral intensity measurements. Specifically, a supervised neural network is trained to correlate the spectral and temporal properties of modulation instability using simulations, and then applied to analyse high dynamic range experimental spectra to yield the probability distribution for the highest temporal peaks in the instability field. We also use unsupervised learning to classify noisy modulation instability spectra into subsets associated with distinct temporal dynamic structures. These results open novel perspectives in all systems exhibiting instability where direct time-domain observations are difficult.

We report the generation of Bessel-Gauss beams of high conical angle, up to 35 deg, using reflective off-axis axicons and a magnification optical system. We experimentally characterize the beams with three-dimensional scans. The high precision of fabrication of the axicons in the vicinity of the axicon singularity allows us to generate a beam with intensity distribution close to analytical description.

Context: Prolonged tendon vibration may induce muscle fatigue, as assessed by a decrease in maximal force production. It remains unknown, however, whether the decrease in muscle strength after prolonged Achilles tendon vibration is related to the vibration frequency. Objective: To assess the maximal capacity of plantar-flexor (PF) neuromuscular function before and after prolonged Achilles tendon vibration at low and high frequencies generated using a portable device. Design: Pre- and posttest intervention with control. Setting: University laboratory. Participants: 10 healthy men age 22.6 ± 4.0 y. Intervention: Each subject participated in 3 experimental sessions that were randomly distributed and separated by 1 wk. During each experimental session, 1 of the following vibration protocols was applied for 30 min: 40-Hz vibration, 100-Hz vibration, or no vibration (control protocol). Main Outcome Measures: Maximal-voluntary-contraction torque, voluntary activation level, twitch torque, maximal electromyographic activity, and maximal M-wave of PF muscles (measured before and after each vibration or control protocol). Results: Statistical analysis exhibited no significant effect of vibration protocol on the measured variables. Conclusions: The current study demonstrates that 30 min of Achilles tendon vibration at a low or high frequency using a portable stimulator did not affect the neuromuscular performance of the PF muscles. These results emphasize the limits of tendon vibration, whatever the frequency applied, for inducing neuromuscular fatigue., (2017 Human Kinetics, Inc.)

Modulation instability is a fundamental process of nonlinear science, leading to the unstable breakup of a constant amplitude solution of a physical system. There has been particular interest in studying modulation instability in the cubic nonlinear Schrödinger equation, a generic model for a host of nonlinear systems including superfluids, fibre optics, plasmas and Bose-Einstein condensates. Modulation instability is also a significant area of study in the context of understanding the emergence of high amplitude events that satisfy rogue wave statistical criteria. Here, exploiting advances in ultrafast optical metrology, we perform real-time measurements in an optical fibre system of the unstable breakup of a continuous wave field, simultaneously characterizing emergent modulation instability breather pulses and their associated statistics. Our results allow quantitative comparison between experiment, modelling and theory, and are expected to open new perspectives on studies of instability dynamics in physics.

The nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE) is a seminal equation of nonlinear physics describing wave packet evolution in weakly-nonlinear dispersive media. The NLSE is especially important in understanding how high amplitude "rogue waves" emerge from noise through the process of modulation instability (MI) whereby a perturbation on an initial plane wave can evolve into strongly-localised "breather" or "soliton on finite background (SFB)" structures. Although there has been much study of such structures excited under controlled conditions, there remains the open question of how closely the analytic solutions of the NLSE actually model localised structures emerging in noise-seeded MI. We address this question here using numerical simulations to compare the properties of a large ensemble of emergent peaks in noise-seeded MI with the known analytic solutions of the NLSE. Our results show that both elementary breather and higher-order SFB structures are observed in chaotic MI, with the characteristics of the noise-induced peaks clustering closely around analytic NLSE predictions. A significant conclusion of our work is to suggest that the widely-held view that the Peregrine soliton forms a rogue wave prototype must be revisited. Rather, we confirm earlier suggestions that NLSE rogue waves are most appropriately identified as collisions between elementary SFB solutions.

Reflectance techniques are commonly used to characterize the optical properties of tissues. However, the precise determination of local chromophore concentrations in turbid media is usually difficult because of the nonlinear dependence of light intensity as a function of scattering and absorption coefficients. A technique is presented to easily determine absorbent compound concentration ratios in a turbid media from three optical reflectance spectra, in the visible range, measured for source-detector distances less than 1cm. The validity of the method is experimentally established, in cases of sets of diluted milk containing absorbent inks, over a relatively wide range of absorption (0.05-0.5 cm(-1)) and reduced scattering (10-20 cm(-1)) coefficients.

Diffuse reflectance techniques are commonly used to characterize the optical properties of various biological tissues in the visible and NIR spectral ranges. Nevertheless a sharp determination of local chromophores concentration in turbid media is usually difficult to obtain because of the nonlinear dependence of the reflected light intensity as a function of scattering and absorption coefficients. The proposed technique of this paper allows to determine absorbent compounds concentration ratios in a turbid medium from three reflectance spectra, measured for source-detector distances inferior to 1 cm. This method is validated in the visible range in case of typical biological absorption and reduced scattering coefficients. Two-layered scattering media are also investigated.

We report the complete characterization of the self-similar scaling of parabolic pulse similaritons in an optical fiber amplifier. High dynamic range frequency resolved optical gating allows the direct observation of the evolution of a hyperbolic secant-like input pulse to an asymptotic amplifier similariton, and reveals the presence of intermediate asymptotic wings about the parabolic pulse core. These results are used to optimize additional self-similar propagation in highly-nonlinear fiber and subsequent compression in hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber.

The effect of structural irregularities in photonic crystal fibers on scalar and vector modulational instability (MI) processes is studied by numerical simulations and experiments. For an anomalous-dispersion regime pump, variations in core ellipticity as small as 0.5% over length scales of the order of several meters are shown to have a negligible effect on scalar MI, yet they completely suppress vector MI. In contrast, for a normal-dispersion regime pump, vector MI is shown to be robust against such fluctuations.

Parabolic pulse generation via Raman amplification is experimentally demonstrated in 5.3 km of non-zero dispersion shifted fiber presenting normal group velocity dispersion at the injected signal pulse wavelength of 1550 nm. The fiber is pumped by a commercially-available continuous wave source at 1455 nm, and the intensity and chirp of the amplifier output are characterized using frequency-resolved optical gating. For 2.4 pJ input pulses of 10 ps duration, the output pulse characteristics are studied as a function of amplifier gain over the range 11-24 dB, allowing the evolution of the input pulse to a parabolic pulse to be clearly seen for amplifier gains exceeding 15 dB. Numerical compression of the output pulses show that near chirp-free pulses can be obtained using only linear chirp compensation.