Abstract
Mode-locked lasers epitomize stability, with the output pulse trains being sufficiently regular to facilitate frequency metrology with unprecedented precision. In this context, it is surprising that several passively mode-locked fiber oscillators sustain a specific operation regime that manifests as a seemingly regular train of output pulses but whose closer scrutiny reveals to resemble bursts of noise-like (NL) fluctuations [1]. Pulses of this nature have recently ventured into the focal point of general physics as their characteristics resemble those attributed to rogue waves of oceanic infamy [2]. Although the physics of mode-locking contradicts erratic fluctuations characteristic for rogue waves, to our knowledge the coherence characteristics of NL pulses have not been extensively analyzed. Here we report on experimental studies of coherence and fluctuations in noise-like ultrafast fiber oscillators, and present direct single-shot proof that the smooth spectrum characteristic for noise-like pulses arises from the ensemble averaging implicit in conventional spectrographs. Our results indicate that NL pulse trains are not mode-locked or even associated with a well-defined longitudinal mode structure.
© 2013 IEEE
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