Dark Pulses Research Articles

Generation of dark pulses in mode-locked erbium-doped fiber ring laser using Ti2SnC absorber

Abstract We report the experimental observation of domain-wall type dark solitons in an all-fiber ring cavity erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) mode-locked with a Titanium Tin Carbide (Ti2SnC) saturable absorber (SA). The SA, featuring a modulation depth of 8.2%, was created by incorporating Ti2SnC particles into a polyvinyl film. Dark pulse formation is attributed to cross-phase coupling resulting from cavity birefringence. The mode-locked laser operates at 1559 nm with pump power ranging from 30.9 mW to 90.0 mW, achieving a maximum pulse energy of 1.73 nJ, a repetition rate of 1.78 MHz, and a pulse width of 261.2 ns.

Domain-wall dark pulse generation with polyacrylonitrile as saturable absorber

Domain-wall dark pulse generation with polyacrylonitrile as saturable absorber

Nonlinear Multimodal Interference as Ultrafast Photonic Device for Dual-Wavelength Domain-Wall Dark Pulse Generation

Abstract In comparison to bright pulses, better stability that is not susceptible to loss makes dark pulses accessible for applications in such fields as signal processing, optics sensing, and quantum communication. Here we investigate the dual-wavelength domain-wall dark pulse generation in a graded-index multimode fiber (GIMF) based anomalous dispersion single-mode fiber (SMF) laser. By optimizing intra-cavity nonlinearity and pulse polarization, the mode-locked states can evolve each other between bright pulses, dark pulses, and bright-dark pulse pairs. The evolution mechanism among them may be relevant to the coherent mode superposition, spectral filtering, and mode selection in SMF-GIMF-SMF hybrid-fiber modulation devices that affect the pulse formation and evolution in temporal, frequency, and space domains. These results provide a valuable reference for promoting further development of nonlinear optics and ultrafast optics, in which ultrafast photonic devices, with low cost, simple manufacture as well as wide adaptability, as novel pulsed generation technique, play a vital role.

Molybdenum gallium carbide coated D-shape fiber for nanosecond dark pulse generation in erbium-doped fiber laser

Molybdenum gallium carbide (Mo2Ga2C), a material belongs to MAX phase group, has garnered significant interest in a wide range of scientific field, including material science, engineering, and laser physics. It is chemically and structurally promising since it exhibits a low shear modulus, superconducting behaviour, and high mechanical stability. Here, we prepared a saturable absorber (SA) based on Mo2Ga2C coated D-shape fiber using solution casting technique. It exhibits outstanding saturable absorption of 7.2%, allowing it to generate dark pulse laser in an erbium-doped fiber laser cavity. We analyzed the laser’s performance and obtained a dark pulse with a pulse energy, peak power, and average output power of 3.9 nJ, 27.5 mW, and 7.3 mW, respectively. This foundational work may introduce a new material as an alternative SA device in fiber laser cavity.

Generation of Bright–Dark Pulse Pairs in the Er-Doped Mode-Locked Fiber Laser Based on Doped Fiber Saturable Absorber

This study reports new types of passive mode-locked Er-doped fiber laser (EDFL) based on a segment of doped fiber saturable absorber (DFSA) with Tm/Ho-doped fiber (THDF), Yb-doped fiber (YDF), and Er-doped fiber (EDF). By employing THDF-SA, a bright pulse sequence with a fundamental repetition rate of 17.86 MHz was obtained. In addition, various mode-locked output states, including dark pulses, dark–bright pulse pairs, bright–dark pulse pairs, and second-harmonic pulses, were obtained through polarization modulation and gain modulation, and the orthogonality of dark–bright pulses in both polarization directions was verified. Furthermore, using EDF-SA and YDF-SA, dark pulses and dark–bright pulses were obtained. A comparison of the three experiments revealed that THDF-SA effectively reduces the mode-locked threshold and improves the average output power. Compared with bright pulses, dark pulses offer several advantages such as resisting noise, increasing propagation speed, and suppressing nonlinear scattering (such as pulse-intrinsic Raman scattering); thus, the EDFL can find broad application in long-distance transmission, precision measurement, and other fields.

Harmonic domain-wall dark pulse generation using unpumped thin-core thulium fiber as interferometer

In this work, the harmonic domain-wall dark pulse is experimentally demonstrated in C-band fiber laser. The domain-wall dark pulse was self-started at pump power of 112 mW. The fundamental dark pulse repetition rate was measured as 0.96 MHz, pulse duration of 250 ns and highest average pulse energy of 3.24 nJ. As the power increased, dark pulses up to the 7th harmonic order were visualized and quantified. Pulse temporal width reduced as harmonic order increased, with the minimum pulse width of 60 ns recorded in the 7th order. The harmonic dark pulse fiber laser demonstrated adequate stability, with signal-to-noise ratios above 50 dB throughout all harmonic operations. The endeavor of harmonic dark pulse dark soliton could lay the groundwork for future sustainable industrial growth.

A single incidental dark pulse during daytime attenuated food anticipatory behavior

ABSTRACT Using an open-source operant feeding device (FED3), we measured food-seeking nose poking behavior in mice. When the mice were exposed to 4 h restricted feeding at night, all mice exhibited robust food anticipatory nose poking starting ~4 h before scheduled mealtime. When the light-dark cycle was advanced by 6 h, mice exhibited two distinct bouts of anticipatory poking, one corresponding to actual mealtime which continued at the same time of day, and one corresponding to predicted mealtime which shifted parallel with the light-dark cycle. Likewise, two similar bouts of food-seeking behavior appeared when the light-dark cycle was delayed for 9 h. These data suggest that food anticipatory behavior is encoded to a circadian oscillator that entrains to the light-dark cycle. Two weeks after advancing the light-dark cycle, mice incidentally received a 3.5 h dark pulse in the middle of the day. This single dark pulse had a negligible effect on running wheel behavior but caused a temporary attenuation of both food anticipatory poking and pellet intake. These results suggest that the circadian oscillator controlling food anticipatory poking is sensitive to light disruption and that proper food anticipation is critical for sufficient food intake during temporally restricted feeding.

Generation of Bright Pulses, Dark–Bright–Dark Pulses, and H-Shaped Pulse Rains in Fiber Lasers with CoTe2 Nanosheets as Saturable Absorbers for Ultrafast Photonics

Generation of Bright Pulses, Dark–Bright–Dark Pulses, and H-Shaped Pulse Rains in Fiber Lasers with CoTe₂ Nanosheets as Saturable Absorbers for Ultrafast Photonics

Generation of Bright–Dark Pulses in Erbium-Doped Fiber Lasers Based on a Germanene-Saturable Absorber

Generation of Bright–Dark Pulses in Erbium-Doped Fiber Lasers Based on a Germanene-Saturable Absorber

Chirped self-similar optical solitons with cubic–quintic–septic–nonic form of self-phase modulation

This study investigates the dynamics of ultrashort light pulses in an inhomogeneous optical medium exhibiting all orders of nonlinearity up to the ninth order. The research focuses on exploring the existence and properties of self-similar solitons while varying cubic, quintic, septic, and nonic nonlinearities, group velocity dispersion, and loss or gain. It is found that the transmission system supports the existence of novel types of self-similar bright and dark pulses in the presence of various physical processes. Importantly, these self-similar localized waves exhibit a linear chirp, a crucial factor for achieving effective pulse amplification or compression. Based on the chirp property, the dynamical behaviors of these self-similar waveforms are discussed in a periodically distributed amplification system. The findings highlight that the shape and dynamics of these chirped self-similar pulses can be precisely controlled by selecting appropriate profiles for gain or loss, nonlinearity, and dispersion. Additionally, the research numerically discusses the interaction dynamics between two and three adjacent solitons.

Generation of spatiotemporal dark pulse or polarization domain wall solitons in a partial multimode mode-locked fiber laser

In this paper, we have experimentally investigated different operational states of a partial multimode Er-doped spatiotemporal mode-locked (STML) fiber laser. The STML is enabled by nonlinear multimode interference (NL-MMI) effect from the partial multimode cavity structure. It is found that by adjusting the multimode polarization controller (PC) and the pump power, the STML dark pulses, bright pulses, as well as the polarization domain wall solitons can all be obtained, alternatively. The fused-tapered multimode coupler is responsible for the dark pulses generation via the enhanced modal cross-phase coupling. It is believed that the present findings can offer an important insight into the spatiotemporal dynamics of the STML solitons.

Domain-wall dark pulse generation with SMF-GIMF-SMF structure as artificial saturable absorber

We experimentally demonstrated the generation of domain-wall dark pulse in an Erbium-doped fiber laser using the combination of a 10 cm graded index multimode fiber sandwiched by single mode fibers as artificial saturable absorber. The interaction of phase difference in grade index multimode fiber allowed the stable dual-wavelength oscillation in the cavity. The dual-wavelength centered at 1567.2 nm and 1569.4 nm produces the topological defect in temporal domain and achieved a dark pulse formation with repetition rate of 21.5 MHz. The highest average pulse energy is calculated as 769.6 pJ with pulse width of 5 ns. Throughout the operating pump power range, the average pulse energy and output power increase linearly, with R2 of 0.9999 and achieved the laser efficiency of 9.33%. From the measurement in frequency domain, the signal-to-noise ratio is measured as 49 dB. As compared to reported DW dark pulse works, the proposed structure only required a short length of multimode fiber, which allowed the domain-wall dark pulse to achieve higher pulse repetition rate. The venture of domain wall dark pulse is potentially to pave the foundation toward sustainable industrial growth.

Nozaki-Bekki solitons in semiconductor lasers.

Optical frequency-comb sources, which emit perfectly periodic and coherent waveforms of light1, have recently rapidly progressed towards chip-scale integrated solutions. Among them, two classes are particularly significant-semiconductor Fabry-Perót lasers2-6 and passive ring Kerr microresonators7-9. Here we merge the two technologies in a ring semiconductor laser10,11 and demonstrate a paradigm for the formation of free-running solitons, called Nozaki-Bekki solitons. These dissipative waveforms emerge in a family of travelling localized dark pulses, known within the complex Ginzburg-Landau equation12-14. We show that Nozaki-Bekki solitons are structurally stable in a ring laser and form spontaneously with tuning of the laser bias, eliminating the need for an external optical pump. By combining conclusive experimental findings and a complementary elaborate theoretical model, we reveal the salient characteristics of these solitons and provide guidelines for their generation. Beyond the fundamental soliton circulating inside the ring laser, we demonstrate multisoliton states as well, verifying their localized nature and offering an insight into formation of soliton crystals15. Our results consolidate a monolithic electrically driven platform for direct soliton generation and open the door for a research field at the junction of laser multimode dynamics and Kerr parametric processes.

Coexistence of noise-like pulse and dark pulse in an Er/Yb co-doped fiber laser

Coexistence of noise-like pulse and dark pulse in an Er/Yb co-doped fiber laser

The phase of darkness – measuring the phase of a dark pulse

Dark optical solitons are solutions to the nonlinear Schrödinger equation in normal dispersion media with positive Kerr nonlinearity, exhibiting a discrete π phase jump. These solitons are valuable to applications within telecommunication. Recent advancements have demonstrated the generation of two-colour bright-dark soliton pairs through cross-amplitude modulation in laser cavities, resulting in mode locking. In this study we present for the first time full field characterization of the electric field of a dark pulse. We achieved this by performing Blind Frequency Resolved Optical Gating measurements using the synchronous bright pulse as the gate pulse. The retrieved dark pulse verifies the existence of the expected π phase jump in the phase of the dark pulse, confirming theoretical predictions.

Tunable and switchable multi-wavelength bright and dark pulse actively Q-switched random fiber laser based on NPR and EOM

In this paper, a tunable and switchable multi-wavelength bright and dark pulse actively Q-switched random fiber laser (RFL) based on nonlinear polarization rotation (NPR) structure and elector-optic modulator (EOM) is proposed. The threshold of the laser is 33 mW, and the light conversion efficiency is about 3.18 %. In the experiment, a 25 km long single-mode fiber (SMF) is used to provide random distribution feedback, and as the pump power increases, a single-channel to six-channel laser output can be obtained. When the pump power is fixed at 300 mW, switching between three, four, five, and six channels can be easily achieved by adjusting the two polarization controllers (PCs) in the ring cavity. Wavelength tuning of three and four channels is realized with a fixed wavelength interval of 1.5 nm. In addition, by changing the waveform of an external signal source, it is possible to switch between bright pulses, dark pulses, and light-dark pulse pairs. The proposed random fiber laser has broad application prospects in the fields of distributed sensing system and biomedical imaging.

Symmetrically dispersion-engineered microcombs

Normal-dispersion microcombs have gained significant attention for their features, including high conversion efficiency, deterministic generation, and thermal management-free operation. However, most of the demonstrated microcombs in the normal-dispersion regime heavily rely on asymmetric local dispersion anomalies, which introduce odd-order dispersion components and originate asymmetric spectral characteristics. In this study, we present a scheme that employs two symmetrically positioned local dispersion alterations on either side of the pump mode. This configuration enables direct mode-locked microcombs, referred to as ‘dark pulses’ or ‘platicons’, while preserving spectral symmetry. The platicon microcombs exhibit efficient conversion, spectral symmetry, and can be generated with high repeatability. Furthermore, we demonstrate the deterministic generation of perfect platicon crystals with highly symmetric spectra by precisely controlling the position of the two symmetric dispersion alterations relative to the pump mode. Our proposed method offers a reliable approach for achieving power-efficient microcombs with highly symmetric spectra, and can be transferred to other integrated nonlinear platforms.

Bright and Dark Soliton Pulse in Solid Core Photonic Crystal Fibers

The nonlinear Schrodinger (NLS) equation was utilized to conduct an analytical study on the soliton control in homogeneous photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) within both the normal and anomalous dispersion regimes. The split step Fourier method and MATLAB computation were used to generate the analytical soliton solutions for the NLS problem. The bright and dark soliton can be controlled by the group-velocity distribution (GVD). It is capable of demonstrating the fabrication of a fully coherent PCF. Moreover, dark soliton pulses have been seen in PCF in the typical dispersion domain. Here, we present the bound states of bright–dark soliton pairs that are mutually confined in a PCF. Solitons are produced when two modes with opposing dispersions are replanted. One laser operating in the anomalous dispersion domain produces the bright soliton, while the second laser running in the normal dispersion phase produces the dark soliton by normal dispersion cross-phase modulation with the light soliton. The results unequivocally point to a novel method of generating dark soliton pulses. Capturing both bright and dark solitons can produce light states that, interestingly, have a consistent power output and spectrally resemble a frequency comb. These results may have use in soliton states in atomic physics, ultrafast optics, frequency comb technologies, and telecommunications systems. A radically new approach to the stabilization of powerful wave packages in the negative and positive GVD regions of interacting waves is illustrated.

Dark pulse generation in mode-locked Erbium-doped fiber laser with Molybdenum Aluminium Boride coated side-polished fiber

We demonstrate the generation of dark pulses from an Erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) using a Molybdenum Aluminium Boride (MoAlB) as a saturable absorber for the first time. Molybdenum Aluminium Boride (MoAlB) was coated onto side-polished fiber (SPF) to improve the birefringence and nonlinearity inside the EDFL cavity with net anomalous dispersion. The soliton dark pulses are obtained from the laser cavity based on cubic-quintic nonlinear Schrödinger equation (CQNLSE) mechanism. The laser operated at 1560.6 nm with a pulse duration of 152 ns and repetition rate of 1.87 MHz as the pump power is set within 200 mW to 370 mW. At the maximum pump power, the average output power and pulse energy are recorded at 6.93 mW and 3.77 nJ, respectively. We think that this research is the first to show MoAlB 's potential for dark pulse generation.

Formation and manipulation of optical soliton pulse in a self- and cross-phase modulated four-level inverted Y-type system

We have proposed a theoretical model for controllable optical soliton pulse formation in a magnetic-field-assisted four-level inverted Y-type atomic system. The probability amplitudes of the pertinent levels are used to analyze the contrast between self- and cross-phase modulated probe absorption signals. The absorption profiles obtained from the probability amplitudes and the zeroth-order of the pulse propagation constant in the Taylor series are appropriately congruent. The nonlinear Schrödinger equation derived from the Maxwell–Bloch equation determines the respective bright and dark soliton conditions with positive and negative values of the pulse shape parameter. It is demonstrated that the coupling laser field strengths, laser frequency detunings, and the external magnetic field’s direction are the controlling parameters to produce both bright and dark optical soliton pulses. Alongside, the shape of the optical soliton pulses in self- and cross-phase modulation is influenced by the polarization angle of the probe and coupling fields. It is also found that the variation of coupling field strengths may be used to regulate the group velocity of the soliton probe pulse from superluminal to subluminal modes or vice-versa.