Q-switching bifurcation dynamics of passively mode-locked lasers.

Abstract

We model Q-switched pulses in passively mode-locked lasers using the cubic-quintic complex Ginzburg-Landau equation (CGLE). We show that a wide set of parameters of this equation leads to Q-switched pulses of triangular shape that consist of a periodic sequence of evolving dissipative solitons. Bifurcation diagrams demonstrating various transformations of these pulses are calculated in terms of five major parameters of the CGLE. The diagrams show period doubling transformations as well as the transition to a chaotic evolution of the Q-switched pulses.