Period-doubling bound-state pulses in a Mamyshev oscillator

Based on the combination of cascaded spectral broadening induced by self-phase modulation and offset spectral filtering effect, Mamyshev oscillators have been regarded as convenient test beds for exploring complex nonlinear dynamical behaviors, including stable pulses and pulsations. Here, we demonstrate the experimental observation of bound-state pulses and period-doubling pulsations in a self-starting Yb-doped Mamyshev oscillator. The bound-state pulses operate stably in period-1 as an envelope or two envelopes with different intensities, or operate in pulsating process with period doubling. Thanks to the emerging dispersive Fourier transform technique, the transient spectra of the pulsating boundstate pulse are measured. It is shown that bound-state pulsation pulses of adjacent periods have periodic changes in the pulse shape and energy but the same spectral modulation period from one round trip to another. To our knowledge, this work provides the first observation of period-doubling bound-state pulses in a self-starting Mamyshev oscillator.