During the last two decades, revealing mechanisms of origin waves with anomalous amplitude (rogue waves) have been in the focus of researchers from different fields ranging from oceanography to laser physics. Mode-locked lasers, as a test bed system, provide a unique opportunity to collect more data on rogue waves in the form of random pulses (soliton rain) and to clarify the mechanisms of rogue-wave emergence caused by soliton-soliton and soliton-dispersive wave interactions. Here, for the first time, for an Er-doped mode-locked laser, a new type of vector rogue waves is demonstrated experimentally and theoretically, which is driven by desynchronization of the orthogonal linear states of polarization, so leading to output power oscillations in the form of anomalous spikes-dips (bright-dark rogue waves). The results can pave the way to unlocking the universal nature of the origin of rogue waves and thus can be of interest to the broad scientific community.The laser (Figure 1) comprises 1.1 m long erbium-doped fiber (EDF) with a nominal absorption ratio of 80 dB/m at 1530 nm. The group velocity dispersion of the EDF is of +59 ps 2 /km. A fiber pigtailed optical isolator (OISO) has been used to support a
Soliton rain is a bunch of small soliton pulses accompanying the main pulse with the period of a round trip. It was found previously that soliton-soliton interaction through the overlapping of their tails or soliton-dispersive wave interaction can result in spikes with an anomalous amplitude satisfying the rogue waves (RW) criteria. Here, we report for the first time on the experimental observation of the polarization dynamics of soliton rain in an erbium-doped fiber laser mode-locked by single wall carbon nanotubes. Unlike the previous study, we have found that the soliton rain dynamics can be driven by polarization hole burning in the orientation distribution of inversion. Completion between holes, filled by the pump wave and rotation of the state of polarization of lasing pulse, is controlled by the pump power and in the cavity polarization controller, which results in repulsion or attraction of the soliton rain pulses and the main pulse. As a result, the different soliton rain patterns including RW can be observed.
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