Vector optical rogue waves in mode-locked fibre lasers

Abstract

The project consists of an experimental characterisation of optical vector rogue wave (RW) events by using three different testbed fibre laser setups. The first testbed is a long cavity fibre laser (615 m). Here, we have demonstrated for the first time, a new type of vector resonance multimode instability that inherits some features of modulation and multimode instability. This instability leads to emerging different pulse laser regimes from longitudinal modes synchronization to different types of optical RW events. Using the same testbed fibre laser, we have also shown experimentally for the first time fibre twist-based chiral symmetry breaking. This leads to versatile laser dynamics tuneable from a periodic pulse similar mode-locked regime to chaotic oscillations which are revealed as a mechanism for the emergence of RW events. The observed optical RW events have been classified as fast optical RWs or slow optical RWs depending on the autocorrelation function of the experimental data. The classified optical RWs have been studied by collecting experimental data of a 19x19 grid of polarization positions through tuning both intra-cavity and pump polarization controllers. The second testbed is a passively mode-locked fibre laser. Using this system, the control, appearance and disappearance of the soliton rain flow were demonstrated for the first time using a low range of pump power. Harmonics soliton rain, soliton fission and soliton-soliton interactions leading to the emergence of optical RWs have also been demonstrated in this experiment at a different pump power and intra-cavity birefringence. High harmonic (902 MHz) mode-locked fibre laser based on acoustic-optic effect has been realized in the same laser experiment. In the third laser testbed experiment with, a stretched mode-locked fibre laser, vector bright-dark optical RWs were observed experimentally for the first time. These bright-dark RWs have formed in the laser cavity due to modulation instability at close pump power threshold or due to the polarization instability (incoherent coupling) at higher pump power.