Soliton rains with isolated solitons induced by acoustic waves in a nonlinear multimodal interference-based fiber laser

摘要

We experimentally and theoretically demonstrate soliton rains with isolated solitons and soliton bunches in a passively mode-locked fiber laser, using a mode-locker based on a nonlinear multimodal interference technique. The isolated solitons are captured at the moments of integer multiples of 21 ns and 33 ns, which correspond to the acoustic modes in TR2m and R-0m branches. The theory of nonlinear fiber optics is used to characterize the mechanism of capturing isolated solitons. The modal delay induced by the multimode fiber gives a revealing insight into the loss of capacity to capture and transition from soliton rains to bunches. Our study introduces a new way to precisely control the behaviors of multi-solitons and provides a potential tool for understanding complex nonlinear dynamics.