Fig. 1. Motion control of decoherently seeded temporal dissipative solitons via SFE. (a) Sketch of the experimental setup, including an erbium-doped mode-locked fibre laser (mode locking is under the pump power of ∼23.71  mW) incorporating a carbon-nanotube-based saturable absorber (CNT-SA) and real-time spectrum measurement system based on DFT method. LD, laser diode; SMF, single-mode fibre; EDF, erbium-doped fibre; WDM, wavelength-division multiplexer; FPC, fibre polarization controller; ISO, isolator; TBPF, tuneable bandpass filter; DCF, dispersion compensation fibre; OSA, optical spectrum analyzer; AC, autocorrelator; ESA, electrical spectrum analyzer; OSC, oscilloscope; PD, photodetector. (b) Conceptual illustration of temporal dissipative solitons assembly and disassembly via SFE. (c) Data acquisition technology route. (d) Transmission of TBPF; the shaded part is the amplified spontaneous emission spectrum of EDF. (e) Transmission spectrum of TBPF with sharp edges and the output spectrum of fibre laser (the centre wavelength of TBPF is ∼1543  nm). (f) Autocorrelation traces of two-soliton molecules (TSMs) and complex soliton molecules (CSMs).

Fig. 2. One moment single switching dynamics of solitons disassembly. Autocorrelation traces of (a) CSM and (b) TSM. (c) Spectral evolution dynamics of soliton disassembly. (d) Autocorrelation trace evolution dynamics of soliton disassembly. (e) Enlarged view of area A in (c). Disassembly of the soliton begins to occur. (f) Evolution of phase differences and separations between the soliton of soliton pairs and single soliton, corresponding to 5000 roundtrips in (e). (CSM to TSM, the centre wavelength of TBPF is ∼1568  nm.)

Fig. 3. One moment complex switching dynamics of solitons assembly. (a) Real-time spectra and (b) autocorrelation traces. (c) Dynamic decomposition of soliton assembly. Dashed line represents the main peak of the filtered autocorrelation trace. In particular, soliton No. 3 moves out of the temporal boundary observed by the detecting system during soliton far away. (TSM to CSM, the centre wavelength of TBPF is ∼1555  nm.)

Fig. 4. Full switching dynamics of motion control. (a) Long-term switching dynamics of temporal dissipative solitons during TBPF scanning, including redshift and blueshift. The scanning speed is ∼4.89  nm/s. (b) Real time spectra at the switching moments, corresponding to pulse state switching in time domain (a). Panels 1 and 8: switching between Q-switching instability and unstable soliton in redshift and blueshift, respectively; panels 2, 3, 6, and 7, switching between a two-soliton molecule and complex soliton molecule in redshift and blueshift, respectively; panels 4 and 5, switching between single soliton and Q-switching instability in redshift and blueshift, respectively.

Fig. 5. Dynamics of stable temporal soliton molecules. 2D contour plots of 10,000 roundtrips consecutive single-shot spectrum (spectral intensity in colour scale) of (a) stable complex soliton molecule and (e) two-soliton molecule adjoined single pulse. Optical spectrum of (b) stable complex soliton molecule and (f) two-soliton molecule adjoined single pulse, as directly recorded by the OSA (red curves) and as the single-shot spectrum (in blue). Evolution of the intensity of the Fourier transforms of single-shot spectrum, namely, first-order single-shot autocorrelation traces (intensity in color scale) of (c) stable complex soliton molecule and (g) two-soliton molecule adjoined single pulse. (d) Autocorrelation trace, as directly recorded by the autocorrelator (red curves), and as the first-order single-shot autocorrelation traces (in blue) of stable complex soliton molecule. (h) First-order single-shot autocorrelation trace of two-soliton molecule adjoined single pulse before (in blue) and after (in red) filtering shadow region.

Fig. 6. Cartogram of soliton states under multiple repeated experiments of long-term filter scanning.

Fig. 7. Data processing route.