Paths from stationary to chaos in passively mode-locked fiber lasers: research progress of soliton pulsations and soliton explosions

Abstract Research has shown that passively mode-locked fiber lasers produce chaotic output, which has caught the attention of physicists, chemists, and bio-scientists owing to their wide bandwidth, good random characteristics, and strong anti-interference. In passively mode-locked fiber lasers, soliton pulsations and soliton explosions with period bifurcation characteristics have been demonstrated to be effective paths to chaos as far as 20 years ago. However, due to the lack of real-time spectrum measurement techniques, the earlier research investigated their theoretical aspect. In recent years, the rise of the dispersive Fourier transform technique has activated an upsurge of experimental research. The present work first discussed the theoretical model of passively mode-locked fiber lasers, the computational analysis method of soliton dynamics, and the related theory of the dispersive Fourier transform technique. In addition, we presented and evaluated the progress of the theoretical and experimental research on soliton pulsations as well as on soliton explosions in passively mode-locked fiber lasers. Finally, we proposed the future research directions of the soliton pulsations and soliton explosions that offer great promise for scientific discoveries.