Waves, Solitons and Turbulence in Optical Systems - Abstract

Ackemann, Thorsten

Observation of mode-locked spatial laser solitons

T. Ackemann$^1$, F. Gustave$^2$, N. Radwell$^3$, C. McIntyre$^1$, J. P. Toomey$^4$, D. M. Kane$^4$, S. Barland$^2$, W. J. Firth$^1$, G.-L. Oppo$^2$ $^1$SUPA and Department of Physics, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G4 ONG, Scotland, UK
$^2$Institut Non Linéaire de Nice, UMR 7335 CNRS, 06560 Valbonne, France
$^3$SUPA and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK
$^4$MQ Photonics Research Centre, Dept. of Physics & Astronomy, Macquarie University, Sydney, 2109, Australia We report on the observation of self-pulsing spatial solitons via mode-locking of 3-5 modes of a vertical-cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) with frequency-selective feedback from a volume Bragg grating. Contrary to previous preliminary observations, these self-pulsing states are clearly bistable, i.e. fulfil the basic requirement for a dissipative soliton. We observe fundamental mode-locking, fundamental mode-locking with a quasi-periodic envelope and harmonic mode-locking, with some indications of independence between the pulses. These observations constitute an important advance towards 3D light bullets.