Polarization attractors driven by vector soliton rain

Soliton rain is a bunch of small soliton pulses slowly drifting near the main pulse having the period of around trip. For Er-doped fiber laser mode-locked by carbon nanotubes, for the first time, we demonstrate both experimentally and theoretically a new type of polarization attractors controllable by vector soliton rain. With adjusting the pump power, vector soliton rain takes the form of pulses with rotating states of polarization which enable transforming slowly evolving trajectories on the Poincare sphere from the double-scroll spiral to the circle. The obtained results on controlling complex multisoliton dynamics can be of interest in laser physics and engineering with potential applications in spectroscopy, metrology, and biomedical diagnostics.

Automated summary

This research demonstrates a new method of controlling polarization attractors using vector soliton rain, combining experimental and theoretical approaches. By adjusting the pump power, the polarization state of the vector soliton rain can be changed, thus controlling the trajectory evolution on the Poincare sphere.