Single-shot observation of optical rogue waves in integrable turbulence using time microscopy.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 27713416.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/ncomms13136 and PMC identifier 5059780.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Optical fibres are favourable tabletop laboratories to investigate both coherent and incoherent nonlinear waves. In particular, exact solutions of the one-dimensional nonlinear Schrödinger equation such as fundamental solitons or solitons on finite background can be generated by launching periodic, specifically designed coherent waves in optical fibres. It is an open fundamental question to know whether these coherent structures can emerge from the nonlinear propagation of random waves. However the typical sub-picosecond timescale prevented-up to now-time-resolved observations of the awaited dynamics. Here, we report temporal 'snapshots' of random light using a specially designed 'time-microscope'. Ultrafast structures having peak powers much larger than the average optical power are generated from the propagation of partially coherent waves in optical fibre and are recorded with 250 femtoseconds resolution. Our experiment demonstrates the central role played by 'breather-like' structures such as the Peregrine soliton in the emergence of heavy-tailed statistics in integrable turbulence.