Cavity-birefringence-dependent vector pure-quartic soliton fiber laser

Pure-quartic soliton (PQS) fiber lasers provide a promising avenue for exploring novel soliton interaction dynamics and generating high-energy pulses. Here, we present the numerical observation of vector PQSs generation and the evolution dynamics in a mode-locked fiber laser, using the coupled Ginzburg-Landau equations. We investigate the buildup dynamics of vector PQSs in a mode-locked laser with birefringent fibers, passing through three stages: energy amplification, energy pulsation owing to the cross-phase modulation (XPM) effect, and finally stabilization. Depending on the strength of the cavity-birefringence, the evolution of PQSs in non-polarization-maintaining fibers reveals that both the elliptical-polarization vector PQSs and near-linear-polarization vector PQSs can be formed by the energy conservation and balance between the two orthogonal directions. Additionally, we observe the transition process from vector PQSs to scalar PQSs with higher cavity-birefringence, resulting from the failure compensation of the walk-off via the soliton trapping effect between the two orthogonal components. These results provide valuable insights into the ultrafast transient process of vector solitons and enhance the understanding of PQS generation in fiber lasers. (c) 2023 Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Optica Open Access Publishing Agreement

Automated summary

This study numerically observes the generation and evolution dynamics of vector PQS in a mode-locked fiber laser using coupled Ginzburg-Landau equations. The results show that both elliptical-polarization vector PQS and near-linear-polarization vector PQS can be formed depending on the cavity-birefringence. Additionally, a transition from vector PQS to scalar PQS is observed with higher cavity-birefringence.