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Updated: Oct 18, 2025

Automation of Mode Locking in a Nonlinear Polarization Rotation Fiber Laser through Output Polarization Measurements
Published on: February 28, 2016
Nonlinear Localization of Dissipative Modulation Instability
Alexander U Nielsen1,2, Yiqing Xu1,2, Caleb Todd1,2
1The Dodd-Walls Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies, New Zealand.
Abstract:
Modulation instability (MI) in the presence of noise typically leads to an irreversible and complete disintegration of a plane wave background. Here we report on experiments performed in a coherently driven nonlinear optical resonator that demonstrate nonlinear localization of dissipative MI: formation of persisting domains of MI-driven spatiotemporal chaos surrounded by a stable quasi-plane-wave background. The persisting localization ensues from a combination of bistability and complex spatiotemporal nonlinear dynamics that together permit a locally induced domain of MI to be pinned by a shallow modulation on the plane wave background. We further show that the localized domains of spatiotemporal chaos can be individually addressed-turned on and off at will-and we explore their transport behavior as the strength of the pinning is controlled. Our results reveal new fundamental dynamics at the interface of front dynamics and MI, and offer a route for tailored patterns of noiselike bursts of light.
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