Real-time dynamics of optical controlling for bound states of mode-locked fiber laser with short-range interaction

The bound states of mode-locked fiber lasers have been under intensive investigations for the ultra-complex dynamics, while their optical controlling has been unexplored. We report the collapse and rebuilding-up dynamics of the short-range bound states under continuous wave optical injection. The injected continuous wave laser perturbs the gain dynamics of the bound states in the ring fiber laser cavity, and spontaneous collapse and rebuilding-up of the bound states are frequently observed, based on the single-shot disperse Fourier transformation technology. We observe two different procedures for the dynamics, due to the gain competition between pulses and the continuous wave laser. During the collapse process, the double solitons disappear either directly or after them decay to the intermediate state of the single soliton. While, during the rebuilding-up stage, both the relaxation oscillation phase and complex soliton interaction phase were raised. Multiple pulses mode locking might occur after the raised relaxation oscillation. As the continuous wave injection breaking the gain homeostasis of the cavity, stable bound states with temporal separation oscillations appear after rebuilding-up. Moreover, we experimentally investigated the response of the short-range BSs under different wavelengths and power of the continuous wave injection These results provide more information for the bound states of ultrafast lasers, which are also beneficial for understanding the relevant dynamics in other complex nonlinear optical systems.

Automated summary

The collapse and rebuilding dynamics of short-range bound states under continuous wave optical injection are investigated. The continuous wave laser perturbs the gain dynamics of the bound states, leading to frequent collapse and rebuilding of the bound states. Two different dynamics are observed, and stable bound states appear after rebuilding.