Synchronization of the internal dynamics of optical soliton molecules

Optical soliton molecules in ultrafast lasers present striking analogies with their matter molecule counterparts, such as internal vibrations. However, the vibrations of soliton molecules are nonlinear, with frequencies that are sensitive to the system parameters, thus presenting an opportunity of control. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the synchronization of the internal vibrations of self-excited vibrating soliton molecules through a modulated optical injection. We show efficient sub-harmonic, fundamental and super-harmonic synchronization, forming a pattern of Arnold tongues with respect to the injection strength. Our observations are supported by numerical simulations.
This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant 61975144, 61827821); Ph.G. acknowledges support from the EIPHI Graduate School (ANR-17-EURE-0002) and from PIA3 ISITE-BFC (ANR-15-IDEX-0003); O. Gat acknowledges support from the Israel Science Foundation (ISF) (Grant No. 2403/20)