State Key Laboratory of Precision Spectroscopy, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China.
Aston Institute of Photonic Technologies, School of Engineering and Applied Science, Aston University, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK.
Sci Adv. 2019 Nov 1;5(11):eaax1110. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aax1110. eCollection 2019 Nov.
Dissipative solitons are self-localized coherent structures arising from the balance between energy supply and dissipation. Besides stationary dissipative solitons, there are dynamical ones exhibiting oscillatory behavior, known as breathing dissipative solitons. Substantial interest in breathing dissipative solitons is driven by both their fundamental importance in nonlinear science and their practical applications, such as in spectroscopy. Yet, the observation of breathers has been mainly restricted to microresonator platforms. Here, we generate breathers in a mode-locked fiber laser. They exist in the laser cavity under the pump threshold of stationary mode locking. Using fast detection, we are able to observe the temporal and spectral evolutions of the breathers in real time. Breathing soliton molecules are also observed. Breathers introduce a new regime of mode locking into ultrafast lasers. Our findings may contribute to the design of advanced laser sources and open up new possibilities of generating breathers in various dissipative systems.
耗散孤子是由于能量供给和耗散之间的平衡而产生的自局域相干结构。除了稳定的耗散孤子外，还有表现出振荡行为的动态耗散孤子，称为呼吸耗散孤子。呼吸耗散孤子在非线性科学中的基本重要性及其实际应用（如光谱学）激发了人们对其的浓厚兴趣。然而，呼吸子的观察主要限于微谐振器平台。在这里，我们在锁模光纤激光器中产生了呼吸子。它们存在于激光腔中，处于稳定模式锁定的泵浦阈值下。通过快速检测，我们能够实时观察呼吸子的时间和光谱演化。还观察到了呼吸子孤子分子。呼吸子将超快激光器中的锁模状态引入了一个新的领域。我们的发现可能有助于设计先进的激光源，并为在各种耗散系统中产生呼吸子开辟新的可能性。
