Statistical characterization of the internal structure of noiselike pulses using a nonlinear optical loop mirror

Abstract In this work we study statistically the internal structure of noiselike pulses generated by a passively mode-locked fiber laser. For this purpose, we use a technique that allows estimating the distribution of the amplitudes of the sub-pulses in the bunch. The technique takes advantage of the fast response of the optical Kerr effect in a fiber nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM). It requires the measurement of the energy transfer characteristic of the pulses through the NOLM, and the numerical resolution of a system of nonlinear algebraic equations. The results yield a strongly asymmetric distribution, with a high-amplitude tail that is compatible with the existence of extreme-intensity sub-pulses in the bunch. Following the recent discovery of pulse-energy rogue waves and spectral rogue waves in the noiselike pulse regime, we propose a new way to look for extreme events in this particular mode of operation of mode-locked fiber lasers, and confirm that rogue wave generation is a key ingredient in the complex dynamics of these unconventional pulses.

[1]  Olivier Pottiez,et al.  Adjustable noiselike pulses from a figure-eight fiber laser , 2011 .

[2]  V. Zakharov,et al.  Exact Theory of Two-dimensional Self-focusing and One-dimensional Self-modulation of Waves in Nonlinear Media , 1970 .

[3]  Zhongyuan Sun,et al.  All-fiber passively mode-locked Tm-doped NOLM-based oscillator operating at 2-μm in both soliton and noisy-pulse regimes. , 2014, Optics express.

[4]  Meng Liu,et al.  High-energy noiselike rectangular pulse in a passively mode-locked figure-eight fiber laser , 2014 .

[5]  Characterizing the Statistics of a Bunch of Optical Pulses Using a Nonlinear Optical Loop Mirror , 2015 .

[6]  Sergey Kobtsev,et al.  Generation of double-scale femto/pico-second optical lumps in mode-locked fiber lasers. , 2009, Optics express.

[7]  Ci-Ling Pan,et al.  Supercontinuum generation by noise-like pulses transmitted through normally dispersive standard single-mode fibers. , 2013, Optics express.

[8]  Numerical analysis of a broadband spectrum generated in a standard fiber by noise-like pulses from a passively mode-locked fiber laser , 2012 .

[9]  Miro Erkintalo,et al.  Instabilities, breathers and rogue waves in optics , 2014, Nature Photonics.

[10]  B. Ibarra-Escamilla,et al.  High-order harmonic noise-like pulsing of a passively mode-locked double-clad Er/Yb fibre ring laser , 2014 .

[11]  R. Trebino.  Frequency-Resolved Optical Gating: The Measurement of Ultrashort Laser Pulses , 2000 .

[12]  Joseph W. Haus,et al.  Theory of nonlinear loop mirrors with twisted low-birefringence fiber , 2001 .

[13]  J Wu,et al.  Noise-like pulse in a gain-guided soliton fiber laser. , 2007, Optics express.

[14]  Retrieving Optical Pulse Profiles Using a Nonlinear Optical Loop Mirror , 2007, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[15]  Electrometry Sb Ras,et al.  Stochasticity, periodicity and localized light structures in partially mode-locked fibre lasers , 2014, Nature Communications.

[16]  Miro Erkintalo,et al.  Coherence and shot-to-shot spectral fluctuations in noise-like ultrafast fiber lasers. , 2013, Optics letters.

[17]  Ricardo Sevilla-Escoboza,et al.  Rogue waves in a multistable system. , 2011, Physical review letters.

[18]  B. Jalali,et al.  Optical rogue waves , 2007, Nature.

[19]  Generation of broadband noise-like pulse from Yb-doped fiber laser ring cavity. , 2015, Optics letters.

[20]  D. Solli,et al.  Recent progress in investigating optical rogue waves , 2013 .

[21]  Miro Erkintalo,et al.  Raman rogue waves in a partially mode-locked fiber laser. , 2014, Optics letters.

[22]  Ci-Ling Pan,et al.  A controllable noise-like operation regime in a Yb-doped dispersion-mapped fiber ring laser , 2013, Laser Physics Letters.

[23]  F Ömer Ilday,et al.  83 W, 3.1 MHz, square-shaped, 1 ns-pulsed all-fiber-integrated laser for micromachining. , 2011, Optics express.

[24]  Yoonchan Jeong,et al.  Super-Broadband Noise-Like Pulse Erbium-Doped Fiber Ring Laser With a Highly Nonlinear Fiber for Raman Gain Enhancement , 2012, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[25]  S. Smirnov,et al.  Efficiency of non-linear frequency conversion of double-scale pico-femtosecond pulses of passively mode-locked fiber laser. , 2014, Optics express.

[26]  D. Tang,et al.  Soliton collapse and bunched noise-like pulse generation in a passively mode-locked fiber ring laser. , 2005, Optics express.

[27]  B. Ibarra-Escamilla,et al.  Initial development of supercontinuum in fibers with anomalous dispersion pumped by nanosecond - long pulses , 2008 .

[28]  Govind P. Agrawal,et al.  Noise characteristics and statistics of picosecond Stokes pulses generated in optical fibers through stimulated Raman scattering , 1995 .

[29]  O. Pottiez,et al.  High gain erbium-doped fiber amplifier for the investigation of nonlinear processes in fibers , 2008 .

[30]  S. Smirnov,et al.  High average power mode-locked figure-eight Yb fibre master oscillator. , 2014, Optics express.

[31]  D. Payne,et al.  The stress-optic effect in optical fibers , 1983, IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics.

[32]  J. P. Lauterio-Cruz,et al.  Dynamics of noise-like pulsing at sub-ns scale in a passively mode-locked fiber laser. , 2015, Optics express.

[33]  Nail Akhmediev,et al.  Dissipative rogue wave generation in multiple-pulsing mode-locked fiber laser , 2013 .

[34]  K. Kikuchi,et al.  Circular-Birefringence Fiber for Nonlinear Optical Signal Processing , 2006, Journal of Lightwave Technology.

[35]  Rumen Iliew,et al.  Rogue waves in mode-locked fiber lasers , 2012 .

[36]  N. Akhmediev,et al.  Waves that appear from nowhere and disappear without a trace , 2009 .

[37]  Nail Akhmediev,et al.  Dissipative rogue waves: extreme pulses generated by passively mode-locked lasers. , 2011, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics.

[38]  B. Ibarra-Escamilla,et al.  Theoretical investigation of the NOLM with highly twisted fibre and a λ/4 birefringence bias , 2005 .

[39]  Short optical pulse profile characterization using a nonlinear optical loop mirror , 2008 .

[40]  Caroline Lecaplain,et al.  Rogue waves among noiselike-pulse laser emission: An experimental investigation , 2014 .

[41]  G. Millot,et al.  Noise-like pulses generated at high harmonics in a partially-mode-locked km-long Raman fiber laser , 2012 .

[42]  Govind P. Agrawal,et al.  Nonlinear Fiber Optics , 1989 .

[43]  N. Doran,et al.  Nonlinear-optical loop mirror. , 1988, Optics letters.

[44]  P. Grelu,et al.  Dissipative rogue waves generated by chaotic pulse bunching in a mode-locked laser. , 2012, Physical review letters.

[45]  O. Pottiez,et al.  Large signal-to-noise-ratio enhancement of ultrashort pulsed optical signals using a power-symmetric Nonlinear Optical Loop Mirror with output polarisation selection , 2009 .

[46]  Sergey Kobtsev,et al.  Cascaded SRS of single- and double-scale fiber laser pulses in long extra-cavity fiber. , 2014, Optics express.

[47]  J. I. Peralta-Hernandez,et al.  Observation of a high grade of polarization of solitons generated in the process of pulse breakup in a twisted fiber , 2014 .

[48]  Y. Silberberg,et al.  Control of noiselike pulse generation in erbium-doped fiber lasers , 1998, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[49]  Optical pulse shaping at moderate power using a twisted-fibre NOLM with single output polarisation selection , 2008 .

[50]  B. Ibarra-Escamilla,et al.  Generation and characterization of erbium-Raman noise-like pulses from a figure-eight fibre laser , 2015 .

[51]  Youngchul Kwon,et al.  On the formation of noise-like pulses in fiber ring cavity configurations , 2014 .

[52]  G. M. Donovan.  Dynamics and statistics of noise-like pulses in modelocked lasers , 2015 .

[53]  Hao Liu,et al.  Noise-like pulse trapping in a figure-eight fiber laser. , 2015, Optics Express.

[54]  Sheng-Kwang Hwang,et al.  Supercontinuum generation in highly nonlinear fibers using amplified noise-like optical pulses. , 2014, Optics express.

[55]  Nail Akhmediev,et al.  Spiny solitons and noise-like pulses , 2015 .

[56]  Sergei K. Turitsyn,et al.  Nonlinear loop mirror-based all-optical signal processing in fiber-optic communications , 2008 .