Optik

Spatio-temporal study of single and multi-wavelength quasi-CW generation regimes in

an all normal dispersion ring cavity
--Manuscript Draft--

Manuscript Number:

Article Type: Full length article

Section/Category: Lasers and Quantum Optics

Keywords: Nonlinear polarization rotation.

Quasi mode-locked.
Quasi CW.
Pulse formation process.
Real-time measurements.
Multi-Wavelength.

Corresponding Author: Luis Alberto Rodríguez Morales, Ph. D.

Center for Research in Optics
MEXICO

First Author: Luis Alberto Rodriguez Morales

Order of Authors: Luis Alberto Rodriguez Morales

Luis González Vidal

Ivan Armas Rivera

Manuel Durán Sánchez

Marco Hernández Arriaga

Miguel Bello Jiménez

Juan Carlos Hernández García

Jesús Pablo Lauterio Cruz

Olivier Pottiez

Abstract: In this paper, we report a comprehensive experimental study of quasi-continuous-wave

operation in an all-normal-dispersion ring cavity laser with nonlinear polarization
rotation based saturable absorber action. Using the temporal mapping technique, we
analyze in real time spiking dynamics, characterized by the existence of ephemeral
spikes that continually emerge and decay amidst the background radiation. In
particular, the effects of the pumping level and its direction of variation on the laser
emission dynamics were analyzed. The overall behavior, in particular the well-defined
pattern of spike evolution between their emergence until their vanishing, is found to be
qualitatively invariant over a broad range of pump power, from 70 mW to 550 mW,
albeit the values of spiking parameters vary widely over this range. The spiking
phenomenon appears from low pumping powers, just above the laser threshold. A
phenomenon of hysteresis was also discovered, as some emission parameters, in
particular the optical spectrum, depend on whether pump power is being raised or
decreased. 2D autocorrelation analysis also proved insightful, showing that each spike
appears at random, having no connection with other spikes. Finally, high pump power
settings and birefringence adjustments enabled the discovery of more complex spiking
dynamics where emission at various wavelengths occur, some of the lines presenting
additional slow dynamics at the millisecond scale. These results indicate that
deterministic complexity is, together with stochasticity, an essential ingredient to take
into account for a better understanding of the operational modes in fiber lasers far from
the pulsed regime.

Suggested Reviewers: Miguel V. Andrés

miguel.andres@uv.es
He is an expert on fiber lasers

Baldemar Ibarra

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 baldemar@inaoep.mx
He is an expert on fiber lasers

Antonio Diez
antonio.diez@uv.es
He is an expert on fiber lasers

Hector Santiago
hector.santiagoh@academicos.udg.mx
He is a fiber optics laser expert

Jorge Camas
jcamas@ittg.edu.mx
He is an expert on the field

Opposed Reviewers:

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Author Agreement

Author Agreement Statement

We the undersigned declare that this manuscript is original, has not been published before
and is not currently being considered for publication elsewhere. We confirm that the
manuscript has been read and approved by all named authors and that there are no other
persons who satisfied the criteria for authorship but are not listed. We further confirm that
the order of authors listed in the manuscript has been approved by all of us. We understand
that the Corresponding Author is the sole contact for the Editorial process. He is responsible
for communicating with the other authors about progress, submissions of revisions and final
approval of proofs.

Signed by the primary author as follows:

Dr. Luis Alberto Rodríguez Morales

Impact and Scope Statement

León, Guanajuato., México; October 11, 2023

Prof. Dr. Jer-Shing Huang

Editor-in-Chief
Optik

This letter is to inform you that we are sending a new manuscript entitled “Spatio-temporal
study of single and multi-wavelength quasi-CW generation regimes in an all normal
dispersion ring cavity”, written by the authors: L. A. Rodríguez-Morales, L.M. González-Vidal,
I. Armas-Rivera, M. Durán-Sánchez, M.V. Hernandez-Arriaga, C. Hernandez-Garcia, J. P.
Lauterio-Cruz and O. Pottiez.

In this article, we report a comprehensive experimental study of quasi-continuous-wave

operation in an all-normal-dispersion ring cavity laser with nonlinear polarization rotation
based saturable absorber action. ssing the temporal mapping technique, we analyze in real
time spiking dynamics, characterized by the existence of ephemeral spikes that continually
emerge and decay amidst the background radiation. In particular, the effects of the pumping
level and its direction of variation on the laser emission dynamics were analyzed. The overall
behavior, in particular the well-defined pattern of spike evolution between their emergence
until their vanishing, is found to be qualitatively invariant over a broad range of pump power,
from 70 mW to 550 mW, albeit the values of spiking parameters vary widely over this range.
The spiking phenomenon appears from low pumping powers, just above the laser threshold.
A phenomenon of hysteresis was also discovered, as some emission parameters, in
particular the optical spectrum, depend on whether pump power is being raised or
decreased. 2D autocorrelation analysis also proved insightful, showing that each spike
appears at random, having no connection with other spikes. Finally, high pump power
settings and birefringence adjustments enabled the discovery of more complex spiking
dynamics where emission at various wavelengths occur, some of the lines presenting
additional slow dynamics at the millisecond scale. These results indicate that deterministic
complexity is, together with stochasticity, an essential ingredient to take into account for a
better understanding of the operational modes in fiber lasers far from the pulsed regime.

Thank you for your time of this manuscript.

Regards

Dr. Luis Alberto Rodríguez Morales.

Cover Letter

León, Guanajuato., México; October 11, 2023

Prof.
Dr. Jer-Shing
Huang
Editor-in-Chief
Optik

This letter is to inform you that we are sending a new manuscript entitled “Spatio-
temporal study of single and multi-wavelength quasi-CW generation regimes in an all normal
dispersion ring cavity”, written by the authors: L. A. Rodríguez-Morales, L.M. González-Vidal,
I. Armas-Rivera, M. Durán-Sánchez, M.V. Hernandez-Arriaga, C. Hernandez-Garcia, J. P.
Lauterio-Cruz and O. Pottiez.

In this article, we report a comprehensive experimental study of quasi-continuous-wave

operation in an all-normal-dispersion ring cavity laser with nonlinear polarization rotation
based saturable absorber action. Using the temporal mapping technique, we analyze in real
time spiking dynamics, characterized by the existence of ephemeral spikes that continually
emerge and decay amidst the background radiation. In particular, the effects of the pumping
level and its direction of variation on the laser emission dynamics were analyzed. The
overall behavior, in particular the well-defined pattern of spike evolution between their
emergence until their vanishing, is found to be qualitatively invariant over a broad range of
pump power, from 70 mW to 550 mW, albeit the values of spiking parameters vary widely
over this range. The spiking phenomenon appears from low pumping powers, just above the
laser threshold. A phenomenon of hysteresis was also discovered, as some emission
parameters, in particular the optical spectrum, depend on whether pump power is being
raised or decreased. 2D autocorrelation analysis also proved insightful, showing that each
spike appears at random, having no connection with other spikes. Finally, high pump power
settings and birefringence adjustments enabled the discovery of more complex spiking
dynamics where emission at various wavelengths occur, some of the lines presenting
additional slow dynamics at the millisecond scale. These results indicate that deterministic
complexity is, together with stochasticity, an essential ingredient to take into account for a
better understanding of the operational modes in fiber lasers far from the pulsed regime.

Thank you for your time of this manuscript.

Regards

L. A. Rodríguez-Morales.
Manuscript Click here to view linked References

1
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3
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5
Spatio-temporal study of single and multi-wavelength quasi-CW
6 generation regimes in an all normal dispersion ring cavity
7 L.A. Rodríguez-Moralesa,*, L.M. González-Vidal a, I. Armas-Rivera b, M. Durán-Sánchez b, M.V. Hernández-Arriaga c,
8 M. Bello-Jiménez c, J. C. Hernandez-Garcia d,e, J. P. Lauterio-Cruz f, O. Pottiez a
9 a
Centro de Investigaciones en Óptica, A.C., Loma de Bosque 115, Col. Lomas del Campestre, León Gto. 37115, México
10 b
Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica, L. E. Erro 1, Sta. Ma. Tonantzintla, Pue. 72824, México
c
11 Instituto de Investigación en Comunicación Óptica (IICO), Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, 78300 San Luis Potosí, Mexico.
d
Division de Ingenierias CIS, Universidad de Guanajuato, Carretera Salamanca-Valle de Santiago km
12 3.5+1.8 km, Comunidad de Palo Blanco, Salamanca, Gto., 36787, Mexico.
e
13 Investigadoras e investigadores por Mexico CONAHCYT, Av. Insurgentes Sur No. 1582, Credito
Constructor, Benito Juárez, 03940, Mexico.
14 f
Departamento de Investigación en Física. Universidad de Sonora, Blvd. Luis Encinas y Rosales,
Hermosillo, Sonora 83000, Mexico.
15
16 *corresponding author
email: beto7500@hotmail.com
17
18 Abstract. In this paper, we report a comprehensive experimental study of quasi-continuous-wave operation in an all-normal-dispersion
19 ring cavity laser with nonlinear polarization rotation based saturable absorber action. Using the temporal mapping technique, we analyze
in real time spiking dynamics, characterized by the existence of ephemeral spikes that continually emerge and decay amidst the background
20 radiation. In particular, the effects of the pumping level and its direction of variation on the laser emission dynamics were analyzed. The
21 overall behavior, in particular the well-defined pattern of spike evolution between their emergence until their vanishing, is found to be
22 qualitatively invariant over a broad range of pump power, from 70 mW to 550 mW, albeit the values of spiking parameters vary widely
23 over this range. The spiking phenomenon appears from low pumping powers, just above the laser threshold. A phenomenon of hysteresis
was also discovered, as some emission parameters, in particular the optical spectrum, depend on whether pump power is being raised or
24 decreased. 2D autocorrelation analysis also proved insightful, showing that each spike appears at random, having no connection with other
25 spikes. Finally, high pump power settings and birefringence adjustments enabled the discovery of more complex spiking dynamics where
26 emission at various wavelengths occur, some of the lines presenting additional slow dynamics at the millisecond scale. These results indicate
27 that deterministic complexity is, together with stochasticity, an essential ingredient to take into account for a better understanding of the
operational modes in fiber lasers far from the pulsed regime.
28
29
30
Keywords: Mode-locked laser, Nonlinear polarization rotation, Quasi mode locked regime, Quasi-CW, Pulse formation process.
Real-time measurements.
31
32
33 Introduction.
34 All-Fiber lasers (AFLs) are very appealing devices that have a wide range of applications [1-3]. They are used
35 in all-fiber optical setups where free-space or bulk components are not used, besides they have a very high
36 optical and electrical-to-optical conversion efficiency. AFL regimes encompass continuous wave (CW), quasi-
37 continuous-wave (Q-CW), spiking regime, and pulsed regimes including Q-switching and mode-locking with
38 pulse widths from hundreds of nanoseconds down to tens of femtoseconds. In particular, various mode locking
39 methods have been successfully developed so far which are mainly classified as active or passive mode locking
40 [4]. Because of their many applications in fundamental research and industry, passively mode-locked fiber
41 lasers (PMLFL) have sparked considerable attention as optical sources [5-7]. Furthermore, PMLFL provide an
42 excellent environment for studying nonlinear optical processes [8-10] and pulse formation processes [11].
43 Different categories of pulses, such as conventional solitons [12,13], dissipative solitons [14,15], noise-like
44 pulses (NLPs) [16,17], stretched pulses [19,20], and dark pulses [21, 22] were numerically predicted and
45 experimentally generated in passively mode-locked fiber lasers with adequate dispersion management.
46 Whereas some of these regimes are stationary (pulses that repeat periodically without significant changes),
47 others are inherently nonstationary, the waveforms evolving, often in complex ways, over the cycles. This is
48 the case, for example, of NLPs, with their chaotically evolving internal structure, and of rogue wave formation
49 [18]. Characterization of nonstationary regimes is challenging, in particular because conventional measurement
50 techniques are aimed mostly at characterizing stationary regimes. Despite the limited measuring bandwidth and
51 reaction speed of standard measuring equipment, the non-real-time multi-averaging measurements that they
52 provide are frequently used in the experimental analysis of PMLFL emission dynamics, and some ultrafast
53 transient events can be inferred indirectly from conventional average measurements, for example, the coherence
54 peak in an autocorrelation trace corresponds to internal sub-picosecond structures of NLPs [16]. Indeed, real-
55 time diagnostics of these events ideally requires a precise characterization of the emission dynamics as a
56 function of time; however, this type of real-time measurements are not currently available or are limited by the
57 finite electronic instrument bandwidths. Fortunately, certain achievements in the study of ultrafast dynamics
58 have been made thanks to technological advances and the availability of high-speed oscilloscopes with response
59 bandwidths that now exceed 50 GHz [23,24], making it possible to track ultrashort pulse dynamics, which is
60 particularly challenging in anomalous dispersion regimes, a few examples include multiple soliton dynamics
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4 [25,26], pulsating instabilities [27], NLPs [28–32], soliton explosions [33], or rogue wave formation, among
5 others.
6 Therefore, real-time acquisition equipment and techniques allow the characterization of dynamics in non-
7 stationary regimes. The most widely used technique is the temporal mapping technique [34,35], which allows
8 the study of temporal waveforms that evolve over time. Through this technique, it is possible to identify non-
9 stationary patterns of emission throughout successive cycles at the AFL output. Additionally, the time-lensing
10 technique is a very useful technique for analyzing the temporal pulse structure. Using this technique in
11 combination with ultrafast acquisition devices, it is possible to resolve the internal pulse structure and track its
12 chaotic evolution [26, 32]. However, a complete characterization also requires a real-time spectral study of the
13 laser emission. Spectral dynamics is commonly characterized using the time-stretch technique, which is based
14 on the dispersive Fourier transform (DFT), allowing for spectral mapping (real-time spectroscopy) [25, 26, 28,
15 33, 36, 37]. The combination of time lensing and real-time spectroscopy provides a full description of the
16 emission dynamics of ultrashort pulse lasers (fs-ps); it is worth mentioning that these two characterization
17 techniques were recently used for characterizing CW/Q-CW components as well [38].
18 While much of the existing literature primarily delves into the dynamics of PMLFLs in the anomalous regimes,
19 it is important not to disregard sources that function within normal dispersion regimes, specifically all-normal-
20 dispersion (ANDi) lasers. In particular, reports of ANDi cavities; have predominantly concentrated on pulsed
21 operating regimes, where the dynamics are relatively close to some stable pulsed behavior [39-41]. This type
22 of laser can exhibit diverse emission regimes when mode-locking is reached. The dissipative soliton resonance
23 (DSR) is one type of pulses emitted by ANDi lasers; interestingly, these pulses can reach high energy levels
24 without breaking. Although NLPs were mostly studied in the anomalous dispersion regime, ANDi lasers can
25
produce that category of pulses too [42]. Because they are essentially a collection of incoherent pulses that
26
evolve chaotically, studying the dynamics of their evolution as a function of time becomes critical to understand
27
their internal structure in detail. The mechanisms of NLP generation and dynamics of rogue waves have been
28
studied using numerical simulations and DFT approaches in some ANDi laser setups [43].
29
Even though the characterization of non-stationary regimes has focused mainly on pulsed dynamics, there are
30
recent works where attention is focused on dynamics taking place in regimes intermediate between CW and
31
pulsed regimes. Although in the literature lasers not intended to produce pulses are often qualified as “CW”, in
32
most cases the emission of these sources could hardly be described as displaying constant intensity over time
33
[44]; indeed, in the absence of mode-locking, one would expect that the coexistence of multiple modes with
34
35 random phases yields a noisy temporal evolution (the so-called free-running laser operation). However, even
36 this description often turns out to be oversimplified. For example, it has been reported that there are repetitive
37 patterns within CW lasers and noise lasers [45]. However, this study does not analyze the dynamics of these
38 patterns over time. On the other hand, Tarasov et al. [46] present an experimental analysis of intensity spatio-
39 temporal dynamics in quasi-CW Raman anomalous dispersion fiber laser. They show that the laser operates in
40 different regimes depending on the pumping power, observing partial mode-locking, emission of stochastic
41 radiation, and generation of short-lived pulses. By means of two-dimensional autocorrelation functions, further
42 insight into temporal and spatial properties of these regimes is provided.
43 Recently, using temporal mapping, we reported the existence of short-lived spikes in the quasi-CW emission
44 regime of an ANDi laser for specific birefringence adjustments and under nominal pumping conditions [34,47].
45 In the present work, we perform a comprehensive experimental study of the quasi-CW regimes of a ring cavity
46 ANDi laser, including a saturable absorber mechanism implemented by nonlinear polarization rotation (NPR).
47 Using the temporal mapping technique, a broad range of spiking regimes are presented and analyzed, focusing
48 on their evolution as pump power is raised or decreased, and for different polarization controller adjustments.
49 Among the most relevant findings is the existence of the ephemeral spike dynamics showing invariant pattern
50 of spike evolution over a broad range of pump power, starting slightly above lasing threshold, the evidence of
51 a hysteresis phenomenon, revealed in particular by the emission spectrum, the absence of correlation between
52 spikes and, for high pump power and proper birefringence adjustments, the onset of complex multiwavelength
53 spike dynamics.
54
55 Experimental setup.
56 The experimental setup is shown in Fig. 1. The laser is a NPR-based all-fiber ring cavity, it includes a 1.3-m
57 length of ytterbium-doped fiber (YDF, Liekki Yb 1200–4/125, 1200 dB m−1 peak core absorption at 976 nm)
58 as gain medium, the YDF was pumped by a 980-nm laser diode through a wavelength division multiplexing
59 (WDM) coupler; we inserted a polarization-independent isolator (PI-ISO) between the pump source and the
60 WDM to block the backward amplified spontaneous emission at the pump wavelength. The laser also includes
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4 a PI-ISO operating at the signal wavelength, inserted in the ring cavity to ensure unidirectional lasing operation.
5 The NPR saturable absorption mechanism was implemented by inserting a linear polarizer in the cavity, and
6 was adjusted through polarization controller (PC) plates. For the laser output, a 50/50 coupler at 1060 nm is
7 used. To characterize the laser emission, another 50/50 coupler is used to split the output signal, port 1 is used
8 to measure the spectral profile with an optical spectrum analyzer (OSA, Anritsu MS9740A), whereas the
9 temporal profile is detected at port 2 using a 25-GHz photodetector, and monitored with a fast oscilloscope
10 (Tektronix DPO71604C, 16 GHz, 50-GS/s (20 ps/pt)). The total length of the cavity is 12.2 m with total normal
11 dispersion of ∼−0.44 ps/nm. Unlike most ANDi laser architectures, the one presented here does not include a
12 narrow bandpass filter [15, 48-51].
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33 Figure 1. Experimental setup.
34 Results.
35 The lasing threshold is ~60 mW. To achieve mode-locked operation, multiple PC adjustments were tested; with
36 a proper orientation of the polarization controller, starting at ∼70 mW pump power, a periodic spiky operation
37 is observed on the scope, Fig. 2a, the laser emission is composed of an apparently random peaked signal, the
38 time separation between the repetitive signal features is equal to 59.5 ns, corresponding to the cavity period.
39 Although Fig. 2a is compatible with free-running operation of the laser (where the signal has a stochastic nature,
40 corresponding to a superposition of multiple longitudinal modes with random phases), such a single-shot
41 measurement, which only displays a few successive periods of the signal, does not provide conclusive evidence
42 or exclude the possibility that more complex dynamics (in particular involving nonlinear and/or dissipative
43 effects) take place over larger numbers of round-trips. The average spectrum is presented in Fig. 2b, centered
44 at 1063.34 nm and with a spectral full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 0.2 nm, the resolution was fixed at
45 the maximum allowed by the OSA, 30 pm. Lower-amplitude spectral lines are also visible, with a regular
46 wavelength spacing of 1.04 nm, which we attribute to small internal reflections causing a Fabry-Perot filtering
47
effect in the cavity.
48
These spectral characteristics are compatible with a quasi-CW regime, nevertheless, some experimental works
49
have been presented where a DSR regime was reported with similar spectral characteristics [15]. Besides, an
50
OSA only provides average spectral information, so that any possible dynamical spectral evolution (signal
51
bandwidth that varies over the cycles, for example, which could indicate intermittent mode-locking) cannot be
52
discarded. In summary, the measurements in Fig. 2a and 2b do not show precise information about the regime
53
of laser emission. In the present work we implement a real-time measurement technique, namely temporal
54
mapping, to evidence temporal spiked operation.
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6 a) b)
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Figure 2. Spiked regime a) temporal trace, b) spectral trace.
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Under the same operating conditions as previously, we take a long single-shot measurement, the acquisition
19
20 resolution was 20 ps/pt, and the acquisition time was 400 s (∼6750 cycles) as shown in Fig. 3a. A significant
21 increase of peak intensity starting beyond 100 s is noticeable; however, more precise information cannot be
22 extracted directly from this figure, so in order to evidence the signal evolution over the cycles, data from Fig.
23 3a was processed to obtain the temporal mapping presented in Fig. 3b.
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25 a)
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37 b) c)
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50 Figure 3. Temporal evolution over thousands of cycles; a) scope trace,
51 b) temporal map, c) 3D view.
52
53 Finally, Fig. 3c presents a 3D view of Fig. 3b. Figs. 3b and 3c allow a study of the temporal evolution of the
54 signal over several thousands of cycles; these traces now exhibit a number of spikes distributed along the cavity,
55 which emerge from background radiation and tend to dominate the intracavitary radiation, before eventually
56 vanishing after a few hundreds of s. One of them (highlighted in yellow in Fig. 3b and c) gets to be particularly
57 intense, causing the increase already observed in Fig. 3a, even though its evolution is truncated by the limited
58 acquisition time. The evolution of this and other spikes are incomplete in Fig. 3b and c because their lifetime is
59 relatively long, and of the same order than the size of the measurement window, 400 s, limited by the
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4 equipment memory. Still, for some of them the complete evolution could be captured, from their emergence
5 until vanishing, these will be analyzed in detail in the following.
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c) d)
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41 Figure 4. Isolated pulse a) 3D view, b) Slow time evolution, c) RMSW evolution, d) normalized pulse energy and amplitude, e) 3 pulses
42 phase diagrams, f) truncated pulses phase diagrams
43
44 Figure 4a presents a close-up 3D view of one of these spikes (green dashed ellipse in Fig. 3b and c). The spike
45 is bounded in a temporal window of ∼0.3-ns portion of the period. Fig. 4b shows a waterfall view of the spike
46 evolution. When the peak emerges, it has a flat, nearly rectangular shape as it can be seen in figure 4b. As it
47 grows in intensity, it gradually narrows and adopts a smoother profile; after reaching maximal intensity, it
48 decays and eventually vanishes. The Root Mean Square Width (RMSW) [53] was used to determine the
49 evolution of the waveform temporal width over the cycles, Fig. 4c; the spike duration monotonically decreases
50 over the whole sequence.
51 Fig. 4d depicts the evolution of normalized intensity and spike energy as a function of slow time. Both
52 parameters display similar evolutions, with a smooth increase then decrease; however, the two curves are
53 shifted, and energy reaches a maximum about 50 s prior to intensity (this is related to the monotonous decrease
54 of duration shown in Fig. 4c). As a consequence of this delay, in the intensity vs. energy phase space
55 representation, a counter-clockwise trajectory is observed, the phase space trajectories for 3 arbitrarily chosen
56 pulses, marked with green arrows in Figure 3c) are shown in Fig. 4e. The total lifetime of the spike is ~250 s.
57 Similar trajectories in the phase space are obtained for other spikes (green arrows in Fig. 3c). In addition, the
58 phase diagrams of 3 truncated spikes are also shown in Fig. 4f (yellow arrows in Fig. 3c), including the one
59 marked in Fig. 3b and c in yellow; in spite of their incompleteness, it is clear that the counter-clock wise
60 trajectories their describe are similar to the initial portions of the full trajectories presented in Fig. 4e.
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4 The behavior of these ephemeral spikes detailed in Fig. 4 has been reported before in similar cavities [34,47];
5 however those works focused on the laser behavior under nominal pumping conditions (in which pump power
6 was several times higher than threshold); here we find that a similar behavior is already observed under
7 moderate pumping, with a pump power close to the laser threshold (which can account for the noisier aspect of
8 the curves in Fig. 4 compared to those reported in [34,47]). Whereas nonlinearities, in particular the Kerr effect,
9 is primordial for the formation of pulses through mode locking (even incomplete), this finding questions its
10 importance in the present dynamics.
11 To investigate further the dynamics of the fiber laser, we increase the pump power while keeping the PC
12 adjustments unchanged. With the further increase in the pump power and, thus, the variation in the gain
13 spectrum, the laser emission wavelength changes. We increased the pump power by 36 mW steps (50 mA),
14 from 70 mW until the maximum available pump power, 550 mW. The minimum pump power is chosen at 70
15 mW since this is the lowest pump power value where spiked dynamics is observed in the temporal analysis, as
16 illustrated in Fig 3b and c.
17 Figs. 5a and 5b show the evolution of the lasing wavelength(s) as a function of pump power, when the pump
18 power is successively increased and decreased, respectively. The difference between the two figures indicates
19 that a spectral hysteresis phenomenon is observed, this phenomenon will be discussed in detail in the following.
20 The lasing wavelength changes during the increasing/decreasing pump process as a result of the varying balance
21 between gain and losses because no additional filter or other wavelength-controlling elements are used in the
22 cavity.
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a) b)
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Figure 5. Spectral emission as a function of pump power when pump power is a) increased and b) decreased; c) emission wavelength
48 map.
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50 Figure 5c depicts a summary of emission wavelengths at various pump powers (blue and red points stand for
51 emission lines observed for increasing and decreasing pump power, respectively, see arrows). This figure
52
clearly reveals that the laser emission is divided into two zones: 1060 nm to 1064 nm (green circle) for moderate
53
pumping power values (70-250 mW), and 1064 nm to 1073 nm (yellow ellipse) for higher pumping power
54
values (150-550 mW). At a pump power of 70 mW, lasing is observed in the green region only. As pump power
55
is raised up to 210 mW, the emission wavelength gradually shifts to shorter wavelengths (solid blue arrow),
56
giving way to a dual emission at 175 mW, with wavelengths centered at 1060.95 nm and 1061.94 nm. Blue
57
shifting of the emission with increasing pump power makes sense, considering that the balance between
58
emission and absorption is altered, causing a blue shift of the gain spectrum as pump power is raised [54].
59
However, when pump power reaches 210 mW, the shorter wavelength loses its energy to a new longer
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4 wavelength, 1070.12 nm, emerging in the yellow region. The surviving short-wavelength component endures
5 until it disappears at 250 mW, at which point only the long-wavelength component remains. All intracavity
6 energy now concentrates in the long-wavelength zone, where the emission at 1070.12 dominates, competing
7 for gain until it gives up its energy to slightly shorter wavelengths at 400 mW, still remaining inside the region
8 marked by the yellow ellipse. Although at pump power values of 210-250 mW the emission has jumped to
9 longer wavelengths, from the green to the yellow zone, the behavior within the latter remains the same as in the
10 green region, the emission gradually shifting towards shorter wavelengths as pump power is raised, as
11 highlighted by the dashed blue arrow.
12 Besides, a hysteresis effect is observed when decreasing the pump power, starting from the maximum value of
13 550 mW to the minimum. Figs. 5b and 5c show the emission wavelength as a function of pumping (red circles)
14 when the pump power is decreasing. As pumping power increases, the emission jumps from the green to the
15 yellow zone; conversely when it decreases, a transition from the yellow to the green zone takes place, with a
16 region of intermediate powers where laser lines coexist in both regions. In each zone, pump power reduction
17 results in a gradual red shift of the lasing line, which is also consistent with the opposite evolution as pump
18 power was raised. Still when the pumping is reduced, the emission appears almost always at a shorter
19 wavelength than when it is raised, for the same pump power value. This occurs in both zones, the green circle
20 and the yellow ellipse, however this effect is more noticeable in the area marked with the green ellipse in Fig.
21 5c, and in the lower portion of the yellow ellipse. This behavior is visualized with the red arrows in Fig. 5c.
22 According to Fig. 5, it can be noted that the spectral hysteresis also manifests itself in the following ways: when
23 pumping is increased, the emission in the green zone is maintained up to a power of 250 mW, but when power
24 is decreased, this emission only reappears for a value of 170 mW. Similarly, the emission in the yellow zone
25
appears from a value of 200 mW when pumping is increased, but it is maintained down to 140 mW when it is
26
decreased. Therefore, the pumping ranges where emissions in both regions coexist are also different: 210-250
27
mW when pumping is increased, and 140-170 mW when pumping is decreased.
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55 Figure 6. Average pulse a) lifetime, b) RMSW, increasing pumping blue line, decreasing pumping red dashed line, and c) average
56 maximum peak intensity independent on wavelength.
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58 Figure 6 shows the results of an analysis of the temporal properties of the ephemeral spikes, extracted from
59 time-domain maps obtained for different values of pump power. As in Fig. 5, each value is reached by
60 successively increasing and decreasing pump power in a range between 70 and 550 mW. To calculate the
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4 average lifetime and temporal width of the ephemeral pulses for each pump power in each direction, 5 randomly
5 picked individual pulse evolutions were extracted from each map, the pulses were isolated and normalized to
6 determine both their lifetime (extension of the event along the slow time axis) and RMSW (duration along the
7 fast time axis) [53]. Because the RMSW varies strongly along the spike evolution, the criteria employed in this
8 case was to consider the pulse during its rising stage, when its normalized power reaches 25% of the maximum
9 obtained during its life span. Fig. 6a depicts the average lifetime. The data points are labeled with their
10 corresponding emission wavelength. As pump power is increased, independently of the emitted wavelength,
11 the pulses lifetime decreases, blue solid line in Fig. 6a. Conversely, the lifetime increases as the pump power is
12 reduced from maximum to minimum, red line in Fig. 6a. Blue and red curves are nearly superposed, showing
13 little evidence of a hysteresis phenomenon in terms of lifetime (somewhat larger differences appear for some
14 values of pump power, in particular in the 150-250 mW range, where the emission wavelengths also
15 significantly differ). Still, when the pumping power is reduced below the spiking threshold, 70 mW, the spiky
16 behavior is preserved; however, these pulses have a longer lifetime, which was not possible to measure because
17 it was larger than the time window of the temporal mapping. When the pump power was further reduced down
18 to 50 mW, the spiked emission disappeared. Finally, it is noticeable that, when dual-wavelength emission occurs
19 for some intermediate values of pump power, the lifetime of the spikes at each wavelength (which can be
20 distinguished through their different trajectories in the temporal map) are almost equal.
21 The average RMSW is presented in Fig. 6b, when the pump power is increased from minimum to maximum,
22 blue line, and when it is reduced from maximum to minimum, red dashed line. Although the two curves do not
23 overlap, they cross each other several times and there is no indication of a hysteresis phenomenon. Overall,
24 pulse duration decreases with pump power in both cases. As pump power is raised, intracavity power increases,
25
which favors the NPR-based saturable absorber effect, causing the RMSW duration to decrease, making the
26
pulse shorter in the fast time axis. Finally, at those intermediate values of pump power where dual-wavelength
27
emission occurs, there is some significant difference in the RMSW values of each spectral component. Finally,
28
Fig. 6c shows the value of maximum peak intensity reached during the spikes lifetime, again averaged over 5
29
spikes, independently on wavelength, in function of increasing and decreasing pump power. It can be seen that
30
overall intensity increases with pump power in both cases. Again, the two curves show no evidence of hysteresis
31
phenomenon. When dual-wavelength emission occurs, the peak power decreases since the energy is shared
32
between the two spectral components. If pump power increases/decreases spectral competition occurs until a
33
single wavelength prevails.
34
35
36 Measurements of the spatio-temporal dynamics of intensity provide an opportunity to conduct more advanced
37 analysis of the characteristics of generation. By employing two-dimensional auto-correlation analysis, denoted
38 as 𝐺𝐼 (𝜏, 𝜉) =< 𝐼(𝑡, 𝑧)𝐼(𝑡 + 𝜏, 𝑧 + 𝜉) > [47], we can extract additional information about the generated
39 dynamics by the two-bidimensional correlation function (TBCF). This mathematical tool helps reveal the
40 periodic properties and typical lifespan of the dynamic being analyzed. Fig. 7 shows the two-dimensional
41 intensity autocorrelation for 2 different values of pump power when pumping is increased.
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42 Figure 7. Two-dimensional auto-correlation autocorrelations: a) 215 mW increasing pumping, b) 520 mW increasing pumping c)
transversal cuts depending on color in a) and b).
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45 In Fig. 7a, autocorrelation was computed at pump power of 215 mW, when the pump power was increased.
46 Notably, the TBCF exhibits a distinctive pattern in the central part of Fig. 7a, to show this pattern, a zoom of
47 this figure is shown in Fig, 7b. Specifically, it features a central peak, and its vertical/horizontal extension
48 provides valuable information about the average lifetime and duration of the pulses being generated,
49 respectively. By analyzing the TBCF, it is possible to verify that the average lifetime of the pulses is consistent
50 with the data shown in Fig. 6a, whereas their RMSW corresponds to the data in Fig. 6b. The absence of lateral
51 peaks on the horizontal axis indicates that the spikes emerge at random within the cavity round-trip time and
52 are not correlated. Additionally, Fig. 7b offers further insights. Four black lobes are visible, symmetrically
53 disposed around the central peak, as indicated by yellow arrows. These lobes indicate a lower-than-average
54 likelihood of finding a high energy density in certain regions of the temporal map in the vicinity of the spikes.
55 However, due to the long spike lifetime at 215 mW pump power and the limited acquisition time window, these
56 lobes are only partially observed in Fig. 7b. As pumping is increased, a similar behavior is observed, however,
57 the shorter lifetime (and RMSW) of the spikes contracts the figure, so that the black lobes are completely visible.
58 Fig 7c shows the autocorrelation map for 520 mW pump power when it is increased and Fig. 7d a zoom part of
59 the central pattern. These results suggest that the likelihood of finding another spike in the vicinity of a given
60 spike is particularly low for delays corresponding to the average spike lifetime on the slow time axis and the
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4 average spike RMSW along the fast axis. Hence, an event that takes place around a particular cycle and a
5 particular position in the cavity affects what happens at a different position, thousands of cycles away. Such a
6 negative correlation between different regions of spatio-temporal maps with both slow and fast time separations
7 is particularly intriguing, and we are not aware of such a phenomenon previously reported in the literature.
8 Notably, this contrasts with the spikes presented in [47], where their presented dynamics' TBCF contains no
9 dark lobes in close temporal proximity. Fig. 7e illustrates selected cross sections extracted from Fig. 7b and 7d
10 (straight lines). These curves depict depict intensity evolution along a few cross-sections indicated in Fig. 7b
11 and d, along fast delay axis, providing insight into the peaks and valleys of each TBCF. Each individual graph
12 corresponds to the color-coded lines visible in the TBCFs. Notably, when the cross sections are taken at the
13 TBCF's maximum points, an observation can be confirmed: RMSW is smaller at higher pumping levels. When
14 focusing on the negative lobes, it is confirmed that they are shifted from the center by approximately the
15 RMSW. Particularly, all the TBCF calculated in Fig. 7 also show the absence of secondary peaks along the
16 vertical axis (slow time delay), confirming that the spikes occur at random and do not tend to repeat quasi-
17 periodically along the slow time axis (as opposite to Q-switched like self-pulsing, for example). Essentially,
18 these spikes appear randomly, with no discernible pattern of reappearance, at least within the 400 s mapping
19 window.
20 When we analyze a PMLFL output power, the emission characteristic displays two thresholds: the lasing
21
threshold, which is the lowest pump power required to create sufficient stimulated emission in the amplification
22
process to sustain lasing; at this point, the output power begins to increase linearly with pump power. Now the
23
mode-locking threshold is a higher amount of pump power at which mode locking begins, it is usually
24
associated with a discontinuity in the linear emission characteristic. The output power versus pump power
25
characteristic of the laser under study is presented in Fig. 8a, when the pump power is successively increased,
26
blue line, and decreased, red line. In this figure, no second threshold could be detected in this case because the
27
slope of the output power vs pump power was maintained from the lasing threshold up to the maximum
28
attainable pump power, no matter the direction of pumping variation. However, slightly higher values of output
29
30 power are obtained when pump power is decreased from the maximum, creating a hysteresis.
31 If intracavitary energy increases as a function of pump power, as it comes from Fig. 8a, whereas the pulse
32 lifetime and RSMW decrease, and only the average maximum peak intensity increases as shown in Fig. 6, one
33 can expect that the number of pulses in the examined window will increase, as will their density, when pump
34 power is raised. Fig. 8b depicts a count of intermittent pulses in each map, for the different values of pump
35 power which is respectively increased and decreased. As shown by the figure, the number of pulses grows and
36 decays linearly as pump power is increased and decreased, respectively. Again, a small hysteresis effect is
37 noticeable.
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Figure 8. ANDi laser characteristics, a) output power vs pump power, b) number of pulses vs pump power, c) phase diagrams for
27 different pump power values.
28
29 Figure 8c shows normalized phase diagrams for pulses taken from different temporal maps at different pump
30 powers. The phase diagrams show that as pump power is raised, the width of the trajectories is reduced (see
31 arrows), meaning that the delay between maximal intensity and maximal energy of the pulse relative to its
32 lifetime decreases.
33 It is apparent from Fig. 5 that there are certain regions where multiwavelength emission appears. It should be
34 noted that this behavior can be achieved in two ways: 1) by adjusting the pumping power to intermediate values
35
around 200-300 mW, or 2) by changing the PCs orientations. When the pump power is fixed at 215 mW
36
(pumping is increased from a minimum, see Fig. 5c) and by changing the PC´s orientations, dual-wavelength
37
operation was obtained. Fig. 9a shows the spectral emission in dual-wavelength operation, the two main
38
emissions are centered at 1062.8 and 1070.1 nm, one in each of the two spectral regions defined in Fig. 5c, with
39
FWHM values of 0.14 and 0.15 nm respectively. In order to analyze the temporal dynamics, we present the
40
temporal mapping in Fig. 9b and c, which only differ by the slightly different values of round-trip time
41
considered for segmenting the same single-shot measurement. These figures show two different patterns of
42
43 emission, at the shorter wavelength, white solid arrow, and the longer wavelength, white dotted arrow, which
44 are readily distinguished due to their different trajectories caused by their relative group delay in the dispersive
45 cavity. In Fig. 9b, mapping was performed by segmenting the data according to the round-trip time at the shorter
46 wavelength, whereas the slightly shorter round-trip time at the longer wavelength was considered in Fig. 9c.
47 Both views are useful for better visualization of the temporal dynamics of the respective spectral components.
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25 Figure 9. Dual wavelength operation a) spectrum, b) temporal mapping adjusted to short wavelength, c) temporal mapping adjusted to
26 long wavelength.
27
28 Using the group delay between both spectral components determined from Figs. 9b, and c and the spectral
29 separation obtained from Fig. 9a, we calculated the net cavity dispersion of -0.44 ps/nm. From the analysis of
30 Figs. 9b, and c we determine that the two components do not have the same temporal properties. Indeed, the
31 longer wavelength component has longer average RSMW and average lifetime that the shorter wavelength
32 component. Keeping pumping power at 215 mW, we changed the PC’s configuration. Fig. 10a depicts a dual
33 wavelength spectrum and was obtained using the OSA's narrowest video bandwidth (VBW), 10 Hz, as in the
34 previous measurements. This trace shows two dominant components at adjacent wavelengths, 1064.63 and
35 1065.66 nm, the former being ~5 dB lower than the latter in intensity. It should be emphasized that all the
36 previously presented measurements were performed at least three times in a 20 min period with 10 min intervals
37 and the traces showed no discernible change, confirming the stability of the average spectrum. In contrast, the
38 temporal maps obtained from measurements at different times significantly differ. Fig. 10b shows the first
39 temporal map; this figure is qualitatively similar to Fig. 9b, with two distinct trajectories (see arrows)
40 confirming the coexistence of two spectral components. Besides, taking into account the net cavity dispersion
41 previously calculated, the rate of walk-off between these two components allows confirming that their spectral
42 separation is 1.03 nm, thus matching the separation between the two main components observed in the optical
43 spectrum.
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Figure 10. Ephemeral emission a) spectrum, b) temporal mapping 1, c) temporal mapping 2. d) temporal mapping 3. e) zoomed temporal
36 mapping 3.
37
38 A second temporal trace captured in the same operation conditions is shown in Fig. 10c. The behavior is
39 qualitatively similar to that of 10b; however, and although trace remains unchanged while the density of the
40 long-wavelength pulses (dashed arrow) is increased with respect to the previous case. Finally, we present a third
41 temporal measurement in Fig. 10d, in which the two wavelength components measured in 10b and 10c persist,
42 but are now accompanied by a new, shorter-wavelength component (dotted arrow). A close-up view is presented
43 in Fig. 10e for better visualization. The walk-off rate of the new component allowed us to determine its
44 wavelength at 1062.5 nm. Interestingly, in the optical spectrum (which remained unchanged, see Fig. 10a), this
45 component is hardly present. We thus conclude that the emergence of the 1062.5 nm component is ephemeral
46
or intermittent. Because this component is present in Fig. 10d over the whole 400-s measurement duration,
47
but was never observed in the average spectrum (sweep time ~100 ms), we estimate its lifetime to lie somewhere
48
between a few ms and a few tens of ms.
49
The changes in pulsed emission density, as well as the appearance of new components in real-time
50
measurements, which are not corroborated by average spectral measurements, are indicative of a complex
51
dynamical evolution of the laser emission.
52
For different adjustments of the PC’s, the spectral trace presented in Fig. 11a is obtained, red dotted line (VBW
53
was adjusted to 10 Hz). The red spectral trace presents a single emission at 1069.26 nm. Although a single
54
55 wavelength component is dominant in the spectral trace, the temporal map exhibits a dual wavelength behavior,
56 Fig. 11b, where both the dominant component (dashed arrow) and a shorter-wavelength component (solid
57 arrow) are present, with a spectral separation of 2 nm, calculated from the slope of the temporal mapping in
58 Fig. 11b.
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16 Figure 11. Ephemeral emission a) spectrum, b) temporal mapping.
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18 When the OSA VBW is increased, the measurement time is decreased, so it is possible to observe faster
19 spectrum variations at the cost of noisier spectral traces. The blue trace shown in Fig. 10a was taken after the
20 VBW was increased to 10 kHz, the trace acquisition time then decreased to 1 ms. Although this trace is noisier,
21 the shorter wavelength now clearly appears in the trace. We thus conclude that the lifetime of this ephemeral
22 component is larger than 1 ms.
23 These pulses tend to exhibit cyclical evolutions at various time scales based on the intracavitary gain-loss ratios.
24 The pulse extinction and birth dynamics, as well as pulse bursts at various wavelengths, may generally be
25 compared to those shown in [60], where these dynamics are triggered by turning the pumping source on and
26 off. Whilst under some PC settings there appears to be a Q-switched type behavior that is frequently seen in
27 transitory processes of soliton accumulation, the dynamics shown in this study are the consequence of the
28 interaction and competition of each spectral component under continuous pumping.
29
30
31
32
Conclusions.
33 In this paper we studied experimentally the dynamics of a NPR-based ANDi ytterbium-doped fiber ring laser.
34 At a pump power of 70 mW, only slightly above the lasing threshold, purely stochastic free-running operation
35 gives way to a regime characterized by the existence of short-lived spikes, which is maintained up to the
36 maximal available power of 550 mW. Over this whole range of pump power, qualitatively the same behavior
37 is revealed by the temporal maps: long, nearly rectangular waveforms continually emerge from background
38 radiation, grow then decay in energy and intensity whereas their duration monotonically decreases, until they
39 eventually vanish. Despite an overall invariant scenario, the spikes parameters vary considerably; in particular,
40 their average duration and lifetime decay, whereas their maximal peak power increases with pump power.
41 Although a growth in intensity and reduction in duration with increasing pump power and intensity is consistent
42 with nonlinear effects, in particular saturable absorber action, the existence of this regime even at low power,
43
barely above lasing threshold, advocates otherwise. As pump power is varied, a complex evolution of the
44
45 emission spectrum is also observed, which can only be partly explained by the mechanism of gain saturation.
46 Interestingly, the evolution of emission wavelength with pump power presents a hysteresis. A hysteresis
47 phenomenon is also observed in the evolution of output power and number of pulses per map, probably
48 indicating that nonlinear effects are somewhat significant, at least at relatively high values of pump power.
49 Despite the well-defined temporal evolution of the spikes and patterns of evolution with pump power described
50 above, this mode of operation still preserves a high degree of stochasticity; in particular, the numerous spikes
51 appearing in a temporal map are uncorrelated: there is no preferential separation between multiple spikes in the
52 cavity (below the cavity round-trip time), nor is there a repetitive pattern emerging along the slow time axis,
53 such as the slow, quasi-periodic (Q-switched like) oscillations that are commonly observed in these systems.
54
On the other hand, a lower-than-average correlation is found at some spots in the vicinity of the central peak in
55
56 the 2D autocorrelation map. Finally, for high values of pump power and some PC adjustments, the spiking
57 dynamics can be expanded to multi-wavelength operation, being in some cases further complicated by the
58 observation of ephemeral wavelength components, with lifetimes at the ms scale. The present work reveals the
59 puzzling behaviors than can be found in ANDi fiber lasers far away from conventional pulsed operation, even
60 at pump powers where free-running laser operation would normally be expected, as a result of the subtle
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4 interaction between dispersion, dissipative and nonlinear effects, gain dynamics, and polarization evolution,
5 among others. We hope that this work will stimulate further research work that will help clarify the mechanisms
6 beyond such dynamics, which as by now are still far from elucidated.
7
8
9
10
11 Acknowledgments
12 L. A. Rodríguez-Morales thanks Consejo Nacional de Humanidades, Ciencias y Tecnologías postdoctoral
13 grant 2482407. I. Armas-Rivera thanks Consejo Nacional de Humanidades, Ciencias y Tecnologías
14 postdoctoral grant 3701567.
15
16
17
18 References.
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Highlights

Highlights:
 ANDi Ring Cavity Laser Study.

 Emergence and decay of ephemeral spikes within the laser's

background radiation.

 The pump power impact on the laser emission dynamics, from 70 mW

to 550 mW.

 The optical spectrum exhibits dependency on whether pump power is

increasing or decreasing, adding complexity to the laser's behavior.

 At peculiar pump power settings and with birefringence adjustments,

the study uncovers complex spiking dynamics involving emissions at
various wavelengths.
Declaration of Interest Statement

Conflict of Interest

There are no conflicts to declarate