Bound states of gain-guided solitons in a passively mode-locked fiber laser

TL;DR

This paper reports the experimental observation and numerical confirmation of bound states of gain-guided solitons in a dispersion-managed erbium-doped fiber laser, with fixed pulse separation unaffected by pump power variations.

Contribution

It is the first to demonstrate fixed-interval bound states of gain-guided solitons in a dispersion-managed fiber laser, combining experimental and numerical analysis.

Findings

Bound states of gain-guided solitons observed experimentally.

Fixed pulse separation invariant to pump power changes.

Numerical simulations confirm experimental results.

Abstract

We report on the observation of bound states of gain-guided solitons (GGSs) in a dispersion-managed erbium-doped fiber laser operating in the normal net cavity dispersion regime. Despite of the fact that the GGS is a chirped soliton and there is strong pulse stretching and compression along the cavity in the laser, the bound solitons observed have a fixed pulse separation, which is invariant to the pump strength change. Numerical simulation confirmed the experimental observations.