General description and understanding of the nonlinear dynamics of mode-locked fiber lasers

Abstract

As a type of nonlinear system with complexity, mode-locked fiber lasers are known for their complex behaviour. It is a challenging task to understand the fundamental physics behind such complex behaviour, and a unified description for the nonlinear behaviour and the systematic and quantitative analysis of the underlying mechanisms of these lasers have not been developed. Here, we present a complexity science-based theoretical framework for understanding the behaviour of mode-locked fiber lasers by going beyond reductionism. This hierarchically structured framework provides a model with variable dimensionality, resulting in a simple view that can be used to systematically describe complex states. Moreover, research into the attractors’ basins reveals the origin of stochasticity, hysteresis and multistability in these systems and presents a new method for quantitative analysis of these nonlinear phenomena. These findings pave the way for dynamics analysis and system designs of mode-locked fiber lasers. We expect that this paradigm will also enable potential applications in diverse research fields related to complex nonlinear phenomena.

Deterministic chaos in an ytterbium-doped mode-locked fiber laser

“…This means there is a fixed point in a phase space description. A simple model which leads to a nice geometrical interpretation of the laser dynamics, based solely on gain saturation and saturation of the nonlinear loss, has been proposed by Li et al [31], and later expanded by Wei et al [32]. From the model presented in [31] a picture similar to the logistic map is obtained and a period doubling route to chaos using pulse saturation energy as a control parameter is clearly demonstrated numerically.…”

Synchronous Multi-Wavelength Ultra-Short-Pulse Laser With Arbitrary Wavelength Interval

“…Note that if the PTF is curved, oscillates, and intersects with P in = P out line multiple time and there are more than one stable fixed points like the point B, the system is sensitive to initial conditions and is often characterized by instability and chaos [3], [46]. For our system, we obtained a stable intracavity pulse power at 2.8 kW, as shown in Fig.…”

“…In addition to verifying the feasibility of the system, we have also studied its stability and summarized the design principles. We found that the open loop energy transfer function (ETF) or the peak power transfer function (PTF) [3], [45] was the most important tool in the design of this system. Indeed, the shape of the PTF (which is more sensitive than ETF) is the key factor governing system performance.…”

“…Thanks to short pulse durations and high intensities, ultrashort-pulse fiber lasers have become outstandingly important tools for various interdisciplinary applications [1]- [3] . Furthermore, as the field of application of these pulses has expanded, requirements for the properties of ultra-short-pulse lasers have become more stringent.…”

Dissipative soliton resonance Ytterbium-doped fiber laser with cylindrical vector beam generation

“…Passively mode-locked fiber lasers based on nonlinear polarization rotation have been widely investigated because of their inherent advantages and attractive properties. Due to the comprehensive interplay among many factors (nonlinear, dispersion, gain and loss), pulses risen in a mode-locked fiber laser usually have rich and complex nonlinear dynamics [1]. Various pulse states [2][3][4], such as Q-switched pulse, conservative soliton, stretched pulse, dissipative soliton, noise-like pulse, and similariton, have been reported depending on cavity configuration.…”