Spatio-temporal observation of higher-order modulation instability in a recirculating fiber loop

Abstract

We experimentaly investigate higher-order seeded modulation instability in an optical fiber experiment. The recirculating loop configuration with round-trip losses compensation enables the observation in single-shot of the spatio-temporal evolution of an initially modulated continuous field revealing intricate yet deterministic dynamics. By tuning the modulation period, a continuous transition between perfectly coherent and purely noise-driven dynamics is observed that we characterise by means of a statistical study.