Bidirectional Soliton Rain Dynamics Induced by Casimir-Like Interactions in a Graphene Mode-Locked Fiber Laser.

We study experimentally and theoretically the interactions among ultrashort optical pulses in the soliton rain multiple-pulse dynamics of a fiber laser. The laser is mode locked by a graphene saturable absorber fabricated using the mechanical transfer technique. Dissipative optical solitons aggregate into pulse bunches that exhibit complex behavior, which includes acceleration and bidirectional motion in the moving reference frame.

Polarization dependence of asymmetric off-resonance long period fiber gratings: erratum.

Correction of Fig. 3 which was taken with different conditions than stated in the text. The figure presented here is the correct version with improved resolution.

Long period fiber gratings with off-resonance spectral response based on mechanical oscillations.

We present long period fiber gratings with off-resonance spectral response. Our long period fiber gratings are created by the periodic structure of large perturbations in the fiber diameter. These perturbations result in unique spectral response, even in off-resonance frequencies.

Polarization dependence of asymmetric off-resonance long period fiber gratings.

We present the polarization dependence of strong asymmetric long period fiber gratings written on tapered fibers. We found that for off-resonance conditions the spectral response and the output mode strongly depend on the input state of polarization. We utilize this dependence to obtain a mode selective device and demonstrate radially polarized and azimuthally polarized fiber lasers based on these asymmetric long period fiber gratings.

Fused fiber micro-knots.

We present fusing of a fiber micro-knot by a CO laser beam. We demonstrate tuning of the coupling strength and tuning of the spectral resonance of the micro-knot by the fusing process. The experimental results reveal that fusing the fiber micro-knots increases the coupling efficiency and improves the robustness and the stability of the micro-knots.