Addressing temporal Kerr cavity solitons with a single pulse of intensity modulation

Desynchronization of temporal solitons in Kerr cavities with pulsed injection

A numerical and analytical study was conducted to investigate the bifurcation mechanisms that cause desynchronization between the soliton repetition frequency and the frequency of external pulsed injection in a Kerr cavity described by the Lugiato-Lefever equation (LLE). The results suggest that desynchronization typically occurs through an Andronov-Hopf (AH) bifurcation. Additionally, a simple and intuitive criterion for this bifurcation to occur is proposed.

Cavity soliton in a cyclic polarization permutation fiber resonator

Cavity solitons are shape-preserving waveforms infinitely revolving around a cavity, which have numerous applications from spectroscopy to telecommunications. Although the cavity solitons have been widely studied for their special time-frequency characteristics over the past decade, the spectral flatness will be a large limitation in some applications without any extra filtering process. In this paper, we report on the generation of a distinct cavity soliton in a cyclic polarization permutation fiber resonator. With the simultaneous excitation of two orthogonal polarization modes with equally opposite dispersion, vectorial cavity solitons possessing broader and flatter spectra can be generated. In order to verify the concept, a numerical model of the polarization-maintaining fiber is proposed and the soliton with a flattened spectrum can be formed. The results enrich the soliton dynamics in the vectorial dissipation system.

Temporal dissipative structures in optical Kerr resonators with transient loss fluctuation

Dissipative structures are the result of spontaneous symmetry breaking in a dynamic open system, which is induced by either the nonlinear effect or loss fluctuations. While optical temporal dissipative solitons in nonlinear Kerr cavities has been widely studied, their operation is limited to the red-detuned regime. Here, we demonstrate an emergent dissipative soliton state in optical nonlinear cavities in the presence of loss fluctuations, which is accessible by self-evolution of the system on resonance. Based on a modified dissipative and Kerr-nonlinear cavity model, we numerically investigate the effect of the loss modulation on the intracavity field pattern, and in transmission observe a single and bright soliton pulse state at the zero detuning. The effect of the optical saturable absorption is also numerically investigated, which is recognized as an effective approach to the transient loss fluctuation in the cavity. The estimated power efficiency of the resonant bright soliton can be higher than that of the conventional dissipative Kerr soliton, which is determined by the loss modulation depth and the pump intensity. The self-starting soliton state on system's resonance is potentially of wide interest, which physically contributes to insights of the temporal structure formation in dissipative cavities. On application aspect, it may constitute a way to the generation of ultra-fast soliton pulse trains as well as the generation of soliton micro-combs.

Nonlinear Localization of Dissipative Modulation Instability

Modulation instability (MI) in the presence of noise typically leads to an irreversible and complete disintegration of a plane wave background. Here we report on experiments performed in a coherently driven nonlinear optical resonator that demonstrate nonlinear localization of dissipative MI: formation of persisting domains of MI-driven spatiotemporal chaos surrounded by a stable quasi-plane-wave background. The persisting localization ensues from a combination of bistability and complex spatiotemporal nonlinear dynamics that together permit a locally induced domain of MI to be pinned by a shallow modulation on the plane wave background. We further show that the localized domains of spatiotemporal chaos can be individually addressed-turned on and off at will-and we explore their transport behavior as the strength of the pinning is controlled. Our results reveal new fundamental dynamics at the interface of front dynamics and MI, and offer a route for tailored patterns of noiselike bursts of light.

Hopping and emergent dynamics of optical localized states in a trapping potential

The position and motion of localized states of light in propagative geometries can be controlled via an adequate parameter modulation. Here, we show theoretically and experimentally that this process can be accurately described as the phase locking of oscillators to an external forcing and that non-reciprocal interactions between light bits can drastically modify this picture. Interactions lead to the convective motion of defects and to an unlocking as a collective emerging phenomenon.