Quantification of dissipative effects in a complex Ginzburg-Landau equation governed laser system by tracing soliton dynamics.

Abstract

The concept of dissipative solitons has provided new insight into the complex pulse dynamics in mode-locked lasers and stimulated novel laser cavity designs. However, most of these studies are restricted to qualitative regimes, because it is difficult to quantify dissipative effects in a mode-locked laser. Meanwhile, the quantification of dissipative effects is a general problem that can be also encountered in other dissipative systems. In this paper, we demonstrate a method for quantifying dissipative effects in a mode-locked laser based on analyzing the soliton dynamics traced by time-stretch dispersive Fourier transform. As a result, we are able to quantitatively reproduce the evolution of the pulse that seeds mode-locking through simulations and gain a deeper understanding of the whole process. The obtained physical picture of mode-locking allows us to propose a simple method to quantify the energy threshold for mode-locking buildup and the stability of mode-locked states. A parameter is introduced to evaluate mode-locking conditions, which can serve as a criterion for designing mode-locked lasers. This work opens up new possibilities in the diagnosis and improvement of mode-locked lasers and studies of soliton physics.