Temporal and spatiotemporal soliton molecules in ultrafast fibre lasers

Ultrafast fibre lasers, characterized by ultrashort pulse duration and broad spectral bandwidth, have drawn significant attention due to their vast potential across a wide range of applications, from fundamental scientific to industrial processing and beyond. As dissipative nonlinear systems, ultraf...

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Main Authors: Mao Ding, Yuan Zichuan, Dai Ke, Chen Yue, Ma Huihui, Ling Qiang, Zheng Jiancheng, Zhang Yusheng, Chen Daru, Cui Yudong, Sun Zhipei, Malomed Boris A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: De Gruyter 2025-02-01
Series:Nanophotonics
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1515/nanoph-2024-0590
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author Mao Ding
Yuan Zichuan
Dai Ke
Chen Yue
Ma Huihui
Ling Qiang
Zheng Jiancheng
Zhang Yusheng
Chen Daru
Cui Yudong
Sun Zhipei
Malomed Boris A.
author_facet Mao Ding
Yuan Zichuan
Dai Ke
Chen Yue
Ma Huihui
Ling Qiang
Zheng Jiancheng
Zhang Yusheng
Chen Daru
Cui Yudong
Sun Zhipei
Malomed Boris A.
author_sort Mao Ding
collection DOAJ
description Ultrafast fibre lasers, characterized by ultrashort pulse duration and broad spectral bandwidth, have drawn significant attention due to their vast potential across a wide range of applications, from fundamental scientific to industrial processing and beyond. As dissipative nonlinear systems, ultrafast fibre lasers not only generate single solitons, but also exhibit various forms of spatiotemporal soliton bunching. Analogous to molecules composed of multiple atoms in chemistry, soliton molecules (SMs) – alias bound states – in ultrafast fibre lasers are a key concept for gaining a deeper understanding of nonlinear interaction and hold a promise for advancing high-capacity fibre-optic communications. SMs are particularly notable for their high degree of controllability, including their internal temporal separation, and relative phase differences, thereby suggesting new possibilities for manipulating multi-pulse systems. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of recent advancements in the studies of SMs with the multidimensional parameter space in ultrafast fibre lasers. Owing to the flexibility afforded by mode-locking techniques and dispersion management, various types of SMs – with diverse values of the soliton number, relative phase, pulse separation, carrier frequencies, and even modal dispersion – have been experimentally demonstrated. We also discuss other basic nonlinear optical phenomena observed in fibre lasers, including the formation, spatiotemporal pulsations, and interaction dynamics of SMs. Furthermore, we explore the multidimensional control of SMs through approaches such as gain modulation, polarization control, dispersion management, and photomechanical effects, along with their applications to optical data encoding. Finally, we discuss challenges and future development of multidimensional technologies for the manipulation of SMs.
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spelling doaj-art-bfc64ffe14bc41b8b0a67de505b3f4112025-08-20T03:17:55ZengDe GruyterNanophotonics2192-86142025-02-0114667770610.1515/nanoph-2024-0590Temporal and spatiotemporal soliton molecules in ultrafast fibre lasersMao Ding0Yuan Zichuan1Dai Ke2Chen Yue3Ma Huihui4Ling Qiang5Zheng Jiancheng6Zhang Yusheng7Chen Daru8Cui Yudong9Sun Zhipei10Malomed Boris A.11Hangzhou Institute of Advanced Studies, Zhejiang Normal University, Hangzhou311231, ChinaHangzhou Institute of Advanced Studies, Zhejiang Normal University, Hangzhou311231, ChinaHangzhou Institute of Advanced Studies, Zhejiang Normal University, Hangzhou311231, ChinaHangzhou Institute of Advanced Studies, Zhejiang Normal University, Hangzhou311231, ChinaHangzhou Institute of Advanced Studies, Zhejiang Normal University, Hangzhou311231, ChinaHangzhou Institute of Advanced Studies, Zhejiang Normal University, Hangzhou311231, ChinaCollege of Information Engineering, Sanming University, Sanming365004, ChinaHangzhou Institute of Advanced Studies, Zhejiang Normal University, Hangzhou311231, ChinaHangzhou Institute of Advanced Studies, Zhejiang Normal University, Hangzhou311231, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Extreme Photonics and Instrumentation, College of Optical Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou310027, ChinaDepartment of Electronics and Nanoengineering and QTF Centre of Excellence, Aalto University, Espoo, Tietotie 3, FI-02150, FinlandDepartment of Physical Electronics, School of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv69978, IsraelUltrafast fibre lasers, characterized by ultrashort pulse duration and broad spectral bandwidth, have drawn significant attention due to their vast potential across a wide range of applications, from fundamental scientific to industrial processing and beyond. As dissipative nonlinear systems, ultrafast fibre lasers not only generate single solitons, but also exhibit various forms of spatiotemporal soliton bunching. Analogous to molecules composed of multiple atoms in chemistry, soliton molecules (SMs) – alias bound states – in ultrafast fibre lasers are a key concept for gaining a deeper understanding of nonlinear interaction and hold a promise for advancing high-capacity fibre-optic communications. SMs are particularly notable for their high degree of controllability, including their internal temporal separation, and relative phase differences, thereby suggesting new possibilities for manipulating multi-pulse systems. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of recent advancements in the studies of SMs with the multidimensional parameter space in ultrafast fibre lasers. Owing to the flexibility afforded by mode-locking techniques and dispersion management, various types of SMs – with diverse values of the soliton number, relative phase, pulse separation, carrier frequencies, and even modal dispersion – have been experimentally demonstrated. We also discuss other basic nonlinear optical phenomena observed in fibre lasers, including the formation, spatiotemporal pulsations, and interaction dynamics of SMs. Furthermore, we explore the multidimensional control of SMs through approaches such as gain modulation, polarization control, dispersion management, and photomechanical effects, along with their applications to optical data encoding. Finally, we discuss challenges and future development of multidimensional technologies for the manipulation of SMs.https://doi.org/10.1515/nanoph-2024-0590soliton moleculesbound statesstabilityfibre lasersnonlinear dynamicsultrafast nonlinear optics
spellingShingle Mao Ding
Yuan Zichuan
Dai Ke
Chen Yue
Ma Huihui
Ling Qiang
Zheng Jiancheng
Zhang Yusheng
Chen Daru
Cui Yudong
Sun Zhipei
Malomed Boris A.
Temporal and spatiotemporal soliton molecules in ultrafast fibre lasers
Nanophotonics
soliton molecules
bound states
stability
fibre lasers
nonlinear dynamics
ultrafast nonlinear optics
title Temporal and spatiotemporal soliton molecules in ultrafast fibre lasers
title_full Temporal and spatiotemporal soliton molecules in ultrafast fibre lasers
title_fullStr Temporal and spatiotemporal soliton molecules in ultrafast fibre lasers
title_full_unstemmed Temporal and spatiotemporal soliton molecules in ultrafast fibre lasers
title_short Temporal and spatiotemporal soliton molecules in ultrafast fibre lasers
title_sort temporal and spatiotemporal soliton molecules in ultrafast fibre lasers
topic soliton molecules
bound states
stability
fibre lasers
nonlinear dynamics
ultrafast nonlinear optics
url https://doi.org/10.1515/nanoph-2024-0590
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