The formation of various multi-soliton patterns and noise-like pulse in a fiber laser passively mode-locked by a topological insulator based saturable absorber

We experimentally investigated the formation of various multi-soliton patterns and noise-like (NL) pulses in an erbium-doped fiber laser passively mode-locked by a new type of saturable absorber: topological insulator. With the increase of pump power, various multi-soliton operation states—ordered, chaotic and bunched multiple-soliton—were subsequently obtained. Once the pump power exceeds 401 mW, an NL pulse state emerged, with a maximum 3 dB bandwidth of about 9.3 nm. This systematic study clearly demonstrated that a topological insulator could be an effective saturable absorber for the formation of various soliton operation states in a fiber laser cavity.