Noise Induced Burst Synchronization in Fiber Ring Lasers

Can bursts in dynamical systems be synchronized by a weak, common, noise background? We observe large, uncorrelated bursts of intensity fluctuations in two nearly identical erbium‐doped fiber ring lasers, initiated by common injection of a weak, constant intensity optical signal. The magnitude and frequency of the chaotic bursting depends upon the injected wavelength and intensity. Significant synchronization of the bursts is obtained for noise and sinusoidal modulation of the injected light intensity. The degree of synchronization is quantified using an envelope constructed from the amplitude of the analytic signal, and is studied as a function of the noise variance. The noise induced burst synchronization can be viewed as a form of generalized synchronization of the fiber ring lasers to the common modulation signal, though no obvious relationship between the drive and response dynamics is directly observed.