Multiscale Dissipative Structures Driven by Modulation and Polarization Instabilities

Abstract

The modulation and multimode instabilities (MI and MMI) are mechanisms driving spontaneous spatial and temporal patterns (STP) formation including rogue waves (RWs) in a vast number of nonlinear systems ranging from biology to the laser physics [1–4]. Using Erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) mode-locked with carbon nanotubes, here for the first time we demonstrate experimentally the STP formation in the form of Akhmediev breathers (ABs), Peregrine soliton (PS), bi-periodic (second-order) Akhmediev breathers (BPAB), and chaotic solitons (CSs) driven by modulation and a new type of multimode instability — polarization instability called vector resonance multimode instability (VRMMI) [2, 3]. The output power statistics of STPs reveal their connection with the dark and bright rogue waves (DRWs and BRWs).