A microfiber-based gold nanorod saturable absorber with evanescent field interaction for multi-soliton patterns in a fiber laser

Abstract

We report on the generation of various multi-soliton patterns in a fiber laser using a microfiber-based gold nanorod saturable absorber (GNR SA). By depositing GNRs onto a microfiber, the nonlinear effect and photo-thermal stability of the GNR SA are both enhanced due to the evanescent field interacting with the nonlinear material GNRs for a relatively long interaction time. Benefiting from a high third-order nonlinear coefficient and the excellent saturable absorption of GNRs, versatile multi-soliton patterns such as random distribution multi-solitons, soliton clusters, soliton molecules, multiple solitons occupying the whole cavity, and soliton flow can be easily obtained by properly adjusting the laser cavity parameter settings. The experimental results contribute to further understanding the physical mechanisms of multi-soliton dynamics, and demonstrate that the microfiber-based GNR SA is an excellent candidate for investigating the nonlinear phenomena in ultrafast fiber lasers.