Miro Erkintalo

Modeling of octave-spanning Kerr frequency combs using a generalized mean-field Lugiato-Lefever model.

A generalized Lugiato-Lefever equation is numerically solved with a Newton-Raphson method to model Kerr frequency combs. We obtain excellent agreement with past experiments, even for an octave-spanning comb. Simulations are much faster than with any other technique despite including more modes than ever before. Our study reveals that Kerr combs are associated with temporal cavity solitons and dispersive waves, and opens up new avenues for the understanding of Kerr-comb formation.

Instabilities, breathers and rogue waves in optics

Curious wave phenomena that occur in optical fibres due to the interplay of instability and nonlinear effects are reviewed.

Universal scaling laws of Kerr frequency combs

Using the known solutions of the Lugiato-Lefever equation, we derive universal trends of Kerr frequency combs. In particular, normalized properties of temporal cavity soliton solutions lead us to a simple analytic estimate of the maximum attainable bandwidth for given pump resonator parameters. The result is validated via comparison with past experiments encompassing a diverse range of resonator configurations and parameters.

Rogue-wave-like characteristics in femtosecond supercontinuum generation

We experimentally study the characteristics of optical rogue waves in supercontinuum generation in the femtosecond regime. Specifically, the intensity histograms obtained from spectrally filtering the supercontinuum exhibit the L-shaped characteristics typical of extreme-value phenomena on both the long-wavelength and short-wavelength edges of the spectrum owing to cross-phase modulation and soliton-dispersive wave coupling. Furthermore, the form of the histogram on the long-wavelength edge varies from L-shaped to quasi-Gaussian as wavelengths closer to the pump are included in the filtered measurements. Our observations are in agreement with numerical simulations.

Coherence and shot-to-shot spectral fluctuations in noise-like ultrafast fiber lasers

We report on experimental studies of coherence and fluctuations in noise-like pulse trains generated by ultrafast fiber oscillators. By measuring the degree of first-order coherence using a Youngs-type interference experiment, we prove the lack of phase coherence across the seemingly regular array of pulses. We further quantify the pulse-to-pulse fluctuations by recording the single-shot spectra of the megahertz pulse train, and experimentally demonstrate the existence of spectral fluctuations that remain unresolved in conventional time-averaged ensemble measurements. Phase incoherence and spectral fluctuations are contrasted with quantified coherence and spectral stability when the laser is soliton mode-locked.

Ultraweak long-range interactions of solitons observed over astronomical distances

Recirculating temporal optical cavity solitons in a coherently driven passive optical fibre ring resonator allows pairs of solitons to interact over distances 8,000 times their width. This finding highlights the extreme stability, robustness and coherence of the process, and of solitons in general.

Mode-locked femtosecond all-normal all-PM Yb-doped fiber laser using a nonlinear amplifying loop mirror

We report on a new design for a passively mode locked fibre laser employing all normal dispersion polarisation maintaining fibres operating at 1 μm. The laser produces linearly polarized, linearly chirped pulses that can be recompressed down to 344 fs. Compared to previous laser designs the cavity is mode-locked using a nonlinear amplifying fibre loop mirror that provides an additional degree of freedom allowing easy control over the pulse parameters. This is a robust laser design with excellent reliability and lifetime.

Observation of soliton explosions in a passively mode-locked fiber laser

Soliton explosions are among the most exotic dissipative phenomena studied in mode-locked lasers. In this regime, a dissipative soliton circulating in the laser cavity experiences an abrupt structural collapse, but within a few roundtrips returns to its original quasi-stable state. In this Letter, we report on the first observation, to the best of our knowledge, of such events in a fiber laser. Specifically, we identify clear explosion signatures in measurements of shot-to-shot spectra of a Yb-doped mode-locked fiber laser that is operating in a transition regime between stable and noise-like emission. The comparatively long, all-normal-dispersion cavity used in our experiments also permits direct time-domain measurements, and we show that the explosions manifest themselves as abrupt temporal shifts in the output pulse train. Our experimental results are in good agreement with realistic numerical simulations based on an iterative cavity map.

Raman rogue waves in a partially mode-locked fiber laser

We report on an experimental study of spectral fluctuations induced by intracavity Raman conversion in a passively partially mode-locked, all-normal dispersion fiber laser. Specifically, we use dispersive Fourier transformation to measure single-shot spectra of Raman-induced noise-like pulses, demonstrating that for low cavity gain values Raman emission is sporadic and follows rogue-wave-like probability distributions, while a saturated regime with Gaussian statistics is obtained for high pump powers. Our experiments further reveal intracavity rogue waves originating from cascaded Raman dynamics.

Environmentally stable all-PM all-fiber giant chirp oscillator

We report on an environmentally stable giant chirp oscillator operating at 1030 nm. Thanks to the use of a nonlinear amplifying loop mirror as the mode-locker, we are able to extract pulse energies in excess of 10 nJ from a robust all-PM cavity with no free-space elements. Extensive numerical simulations reveal that the output oscillator energy and duration can simply be up-scaled through the lengthening of the cavity with suitably positioned single-mode fiber. Experimentally, using different cavity lengths we have achieved environmentally stable mode-locking at 10, 3.7 and 1.7 MHz with corresponding pulse energies of 2.3, 10 and 16 nJ. In all cases external grating-pair compression below 400 fs has been demonstrated.