Cundiff, SSoto-Crespo, Jose MAkhmediev, Nail2009-09-162010-12-202009-09-162010-12-20Physical Review Letters 88.7 (2002): 073903/1-40031-90071079-7114http://hdl.handle.net/10440/857http://digitalcollections.anu.edu.au/handle/10440/857We show, experimentally and numerically, that Ti:sapphire mode-locked lasers can operate in a regime in which they intermittently produce exploding solitons. This happens when the laser operates near a critical point. Explosions happen spontaneously, but external perturbations can trigger them. In stable operation, all explosions have similar features, but are not identical. The characteristics of the explosions depend on the intracavity dispersion.4 pageshttp://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/index.php "Author can archive pre-print (ie pre-refereeing) … post-print (ie final draft post-refereeing) … [and] publisher's version/PDF. Link to publisher version … [and] Copyright notice required. Publisher's version/PDF can be used on … employers web site." - from SHERPA/RoMEO site (as at 25/02/10). ©2002 The American Physical SocietyKeywords: Laser mode locking; Light transmission; Partial differential equations; Perturbation techniques; Polarization; Ultrashort pulses; Soliton explosions; Solitons2002-02-0410.1103/PhysRevLett.88.0739032015-12-11