Q-switched-like soliton bunches and noise-like pulses generation in a partially mode-locked fiber laser

We report an intermediate regime between c.w. emission and noise-like pulses (NLPs) regime in an Er-doped partially mode-locked fiber laser with nonlinear polarization rotation. In this regime, the soliton bunches stochastically turn up from quasi-cw background in the Q-switched-like envelope. The soliton bunches normally last for tens or hundreds intracavity round-trips. When the soliton bunches vanish, typical NLPs chains are generated sporadically at location where the soliton bunches collapses. These results would be helpful to understand the generation and property of the NLPs regime. (C) 2016 Optical Society of America