Soliton explosions and implosions in mode-locked lasers

Abstract

Exploding solitons are among the most extraordinary phenomena found in nonlinear dissipative systems. The first observation of the exploding solitons was made numerically by solving the cubic-quintic complex Ginzburg-Landau equation [1]. An experimental observation followed soon after in a Kerr-lens mode-locked laser [2], and another confirmation was reported more recently in a passively mode-locked fiber laser [3]. Other physical systems have also been found to exhibit exploding solitons—notably exploding solitons in reaction-diffusion systems have been studied extensively [4]. Show more