Search

Collision refers to a striking nonlinear interaction in dissipative systems, revealing the particle-like properties of solitons. In dual-wavelength mode-locked fiber lasers, collisions are inherent and periodic. However, how collisions influence the dynamical transitions in the dual-wavelength mode-locked state has still not been explored. In our research, dispersion management triggers the complex interactions between solitons in the cavity. We reveal the smooth or reversible Hopf-type bifurcation transitions of dual-color soliton molecules (SMs) during collision by real-time spectral measurement technique of TS-DFT. The reversible transitions from stationary SM to vibrating SM, revealing that cavity parameters pass through a bifurcation point in the collision process without active external intervention. The numerical results confirm the universality of collision-induced bifurcation behavior. These findings provide new insights into collision dynamics in dual-wavelength ultrafast fiber lasers. Furthermore, the study of intermolecular collisions is of great significance for other branches of nonlinear science., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures

When a laser cavity supports the propagation of several ultrashort pulses, these pulses interact and can form compact bound states called soliton molecules. Soliton molecules are fascinating objects of nonlinear science, which present striking analogies with their matter molecules counterparts. The soliton pair, composed of two identical pulses, constitutes the chief soliton molecule of fundamental interest. The relative timing and phase between the two propagating pulses are the most salient internal degrees of freedom of the soliton molecule. These two internal degrees of freedom allow self-oscillating soliton molecules, which have indeed been repeatedly observed, whereas the lowdimensional chaotic dynamics of a soliton-pair molecule remains elusive, noting that it would require at least three degrees of freedom. We here report the observation of chaotic soliton-pair molecules within an ultrafast fiber laser, by means of a direct measurement of the relative optical pulse separation with sub-femtosecond precision in real time. Moreover, we demonstrate an all-optical control of the chaotic dynamics followed by the soliton molecule, by injecting a modulated optical signal that resynchronizes the internal periodic vibration of soliton molecule., Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures

Optical soliton molecules in ultrafast lasers present striking analogies with their matter molecule counterparts, such as internal vibrations. However, the vibrations of soliton molecules are nonlinear, with frequencies that are sensitive to the system parameters, thus presenting an opportunity of control. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the synchronization of the internal vibrations of self-excited vibrating soliton molecules through a modulated optical injection. We show efficient sub-harmonic, fundamental and super-harmonic synchronization, forming a pattern of Arnold tongues with respect to the injection strength. Our observations are supported by numerical simulations., Comment: This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant 61975144, 61827821); Ph.G. acknowledges support from the EIPHI Graduate School (ANR-17-EURE-0002) and from PIA3 ISITE-BFC (ANR-15-IDEX-0003); O. Gat acknowledges support from the Israel Science Foundation (ISF) (Grant No. 2403/20)

In this letter, we derive a fully-stabilized narrow-linewidth optical frequency comb (OFC) reference to a kilometer-long fiber delay line for the first time, to the best of our knowledge. The 1537-nm comb modes and 1566-nm comb modes in the OFC are phase-locked to the fiber delay line with 40-kHz locking bandwidth. From out-of-loop measurement, the 1542-nm comb mode has residual phase noise of 925 mrad (integrated from 10 MHz to 1 kHz), fractional frequency stability of 9.13*10(-13) at 12.8 ms average time and 580 Hz linewidth. The linewidth has been compressed by a factor of ~ 170 compared to the free-running condition. Short-term stability of presented OFC exceeds most commercial microwave oscillators. The entire phase-locking system is compact and highly-integrated benefiting from absence of optical amplifiers, f-2f interferometers and optical/radio references. The presented OFC shows significant potential of being reliable laser source in low-noise-OFC-based precise metrology, microwave generation and dual-comb spectroscopic applications outside the laboratory., Comment: 14 pages,9 figures

Amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) causes fluctuations of pulse energy, of the optical phase and of the timing of the pulse intensity envelope in a mode-locked laser or frequency comb. Starting from the assumption of one ASE photon per longitudinal laser mode and roundtrip, we rederive analytic equations for the three fundamental types of quantum noise in a laser. To this end, we analyze the interference of the coherent intracavity field and a spectrally localized ASE photon as a function of wavelength and phase of the latter. Performing an integration over all wavelengths and phases and taking stochastic noise into account, we compute ASE-induced jitters for all quantities considered. Continuing this approach, we then derive an expression for the resulting carrier-envelope phase noise of the comb, for which so far only numerical estimates exist. We further compute analytical estimates for ASE induced pulse chirp and duration variations and address the issue of resulting pulse contrast in a mode-locked laser and the resulting coherence properties. Considering three example cases, we finally compute estimates for all quantities analyzed. Taken together, our analysis provides a comprehensive view of ASE effects in a mode-locked laser, which unites numerous scattered reports across the literature.

Investigation on the relative phase evolution between two bounded optical solitons is essential for its potential applications in development of larger telecommunication capacity of optical fiber transmission lines, resolution improvement in advancing ultrafast characterization approaches and development of all-optical information storage. Here we characterized relative comb-line phase jitter power spectral density (PSD) of a soliton molecule pair generated from a passively mode-locked Er:fiber laser. Through tracking the intensity difference between two selected wavelengths in one certain spectral interference fringe, the relative comb-line phase noise PSD is measured by balanced detection. The estimated measurement resolution is at 10^(-14) rad2/Hz level and the estimated integrated phase noise from 10 MHz to 100 Hz is 2.04 mrad. The estimated relative linewidth is far below 1 mHz. Comparison between phase noise PSD and intensity noise PSD indicates that AM-PM conversion plays an important role in relative phase jitter dynamics between the two solitons. Our spectral interference fringe tracking technique is attractive for its simplicity and shows potential in ultra-high resolution in phase noise measurement, providing an ultra-sensitive alternative approach for relative phase noise stabilization of optical soliton molecules, between two independent mode-locked lasers and optical length stabilization of interferometers., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, to be published in Optics Communications, CF-260

Cross phase modulation (XPM) could induce soliton trapping in nonlinear medium, which has been employed to achieve vector soliton, optical switching and optical analog of gravity-like potentials. These results are generally within the definition in Hamilton system. Here, we report on the observation of a XPM-forced frequency-oscillating soliton (XFOS) whose wavelength exhibits redshift and blueshift periodically like dancing in a mode-locked fiber laser under moderate birefringence. XFOS consists of two orthogonally polarized components exhibiting simultaneous frequency oscillation driven by XPM and gain effect, which allows withstanding higher pulse energy. The pulse trapping is maintained by differentiating the frequency-shift rate. Numerical simulations agree very well with experimental results, revealing an idiosyncratic evolution dynamic for asymmetry pulses in nonlinear dissipative system and envisaging a technique to control pulse feature with preset pulse chirp. XFOS may exist generally in polarization-independent ultrafast lasers, which enriches soliton family and brings useful insights into nonlinear science and applications.

We demonstrate 14.3-attosecond timing jitter [integrated from 10 kHz to 94 MHz offset frequency] optical pulse trains from 188-MHz repetition-rate mode-locked Yb-fiber lasers. In order to minimize the timing jitter, we shorten the non-gain fiber length to shorten the pulsewidth and reduce excessive higher-order nonlinearity and nonlinear chirp in the fiber laser. The measured jitter spectrum is limited by the amplified spontaneous emission limited quantum noise in the 100 kHz - 1 MHz offset frequency range, while it was limited by the relative intensity noise-converted jitter in the lower offset frequency range. This intrinsically low timing jitter enables sub-100-attosecond synchronization between the two mode-locked Yb-fiber lasers over the full Nyquist frequency with a modest 10-kHz locking bandwidth. The demonstrated performance is the lowest timing jitter measured from any free-running mode-locked fiber lasers, comparable to the performance of the lowest-jitter Ti:sapphire solid-state lasers., Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, 1 table

We demonstrate sub-100-attosecond timing jitter optical pulse trains generated from free-running, 77.6-MHz repetition-rate, mode-locked Er-fiber lasers. At -0.002(\pm0.001) ps2 net cavity dispersion, the rms timing jitter is 70 as (224 as) integrated from 10 kHz (1 kHz) to 38.8 MHz offset frequency, when measured by a 24-as-resolution balanced optical cross-correlator. To our knowledge, this result corresponds to the lowest rms timing jitter measured from any mode-locked fiber lasers so far. The measured result also agrees fairly well with the Namiki-Haus analytic model of quantum-limited timing jitter in stretched-pulse fiber lasers., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Optics Letters

We demonstrate ultra-low timing jitter optical pulse trains from free- running, 80 MHz repetition rate, mode-locked Yb-fiber lasers. Timing jitter of various mode-locking conditions at close-to-zero intra-cavity dispersion (-0.004 to +0.002 ps2 range at 1040 nm center wavelength) is characterized using a sub-20-attosecond-resolution balanced optical cross-correlation method. The measured lowest rms timing jitter is 175 attoseconds when integrated from 10 kHz to 40 MHz (Nyquist frequency) offset frequency range, which corresponds to the record-low timing jitter from free-running mode-locked fiber lasers so far. We also experimentally found the mode-locking conditions of fiber lasers where both ultra-low timing jitter and relative intensity noise can be achieved., Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures

We investigate the high-frequency timing jitter spectral density of mode-locked fiber lasers in different mode-locked regimes. Quantum noise-limited timing jitter spectra of mode-locked-regime-switchable Yb fiber lasers are measured up to the Nyquist frequency with sub-100 as resolution. The integrated rms timing jitter of soliton, stretched-pulse, and self-similar Yb fiber lasers is measured to be 1.8 fs, 1.1 fs, and 2.9 fs, respectively, when integrated from 10 kHz to 40 MHz. The distinct behavior of jitter spectral density related to pulse formation mechanisms is revealed experimentally for the first time., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures