Massively parallel optical-soliton reactors

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel optoacoustic fiber laser system that creates hundreds of isolated soliton reactors, enabling controlled study of large-scale multi-soliton interactions for applications in optical processing.

Contribution

It presents a new method to generate and control hundreds of soliton reactors simultaneously, surpassing limitations of traditional lasers for studying large soliton ensembles.

Findings

Controlled synthesis and dissociation of soliton molecules

Ability to study large numbers of soliton interactions

Potential applications in optical information processing

Abstract

Mode-locked lasers have been widely used to explore interactions between optical solitons, including bound-soliton states that may be regarded as "photonic molecules". Conventional mode-locked lasers can however host at most only a few solitons, which means that stochastic behaviour involving large numbers of solitons cannot easily be studied under controlled experimental conditions. Here we report the use of an optoacoustically mode-locked fibre laser to create hundreds of temporal traps or "reactors" within which multiple solitons can be isolated and controlled both globally and individually. We achieve on-demand synthesis and dissociation of soliton molecules within these parallel reactors, in this way unfolding a novel panorama of diverse dynamics in which the statistics of multi-soliton interactions can be studied. The results are of potential importance in all-optical information processing and in the control of ultrafast pulsed lasers.