Behavioral similarity of dissipative solitons in an ultrafast fiber laser

We unveil a new type of dissipative soliton behavior in a net-normal-dispersion bidirectional ultrafast fiber laser. That is, the bidirectional dissipative solitons will always reveal similar spectral and temporal characteristics through common gain and loss modulation, even if the transient instability is involved. The behavioral similarity enables us to accurately design the soliton patterns by introducing seed pulses through loss modulation. As a proof-of-concept application, the precise and flexible manipulation of multisoliton patterns is demonstrated. These findings will shed new insights into the complex dissipative soliton dynamics and benefit the design of ultrafast lasers with desirable soliton patterns for practical applications. (C) 2019 Optical Society of America.