Vector soliton rain

Soliton rain is a bunch of small soliton pulses accompanying the main pulse with the period of a round trip. It was found previously that soliton-soliton interaction through the overlapping of their tails or soliton-dispersive wave interaction can result in spikes with an anomalous amplitude satisfying the rogue waves (RW) criteria. Here, we report for the first time on the experimental observation of the polarization dynamics of soliton rain in an erbium-doped fiber laser mode-locked by single wall carbon nanotubes. Unlike the previous study, we have found that the soliton rain dynamics can be driven by polarization hole burning in the orientation distribution of inversion. Completion between holes, filled by the pump wave and rotation of the state of polarization of lasing pulse, is controlled by the pump power and in the cavity polarization controller, which results in repulsion or attraction of the soliton rain pulses and the main pulse. As a result, the different soliton rain patterns including RW can be observed.