Quantum mechanics

Detector

Beam (structure)

Mode-locking

Casimir effect

Materials science

Graphene

Operating system

Bunches

Pulse (music)

Range (aeronautics)

Soliton

Computer science

Classical mechanics

Dissipative soliton

Laser

Physics

Nonlinear system

Saturable absorption

Optics

Image (mathematics)

Condensed matter physics

Artificial intelligence

Composite material

Optical cavity

Fiber

Dispersion (optics)

Noise (video)

Fiber laser

Mode (computer interface)

Ultrashort pulse

Dissipative system

Physical Review Letters

We study experimentally and theoretically the interactions among ultrashort optical pulses in the soliton rain multiple-pulse dynamics of a fiber laser. The laser is mode locked by a graphene saturable absorber fabricated using the mechanical transfer technique. Dissipative optical solitons aggregate into pulse bunches that exhibit complex behavior, which includes acceleration and bidirectional motion in the moving reference frame. The drift speed and direction depend on the bunch size and relative location in the cavity, punctuated by abrupt changes under bunch collisions. We model the main effects using the recently proposed noise-mediated pulse interaction mechanism, and obtain a good agreement with experiments. This highlights the major role of long-range Casimir-like interactions over dynamical pattern formations within ultrafast lasers.

Bidirectional Soliton Rain Dynamics Induced by Casimir-Like Interactions in a Graphene Mode-Locked Fiber Laser