Resonantly driven nonlinear dynamics of soliton molecules in ultrafast fiber lasers

Recent years have seen significant advances in the study of dissipative soliton molecules in ultrafast lasers, driven by their remarkable connections to a wide range of physical systems. However, understanding and controlling the underlying physics of soliton molecules remain elusive due to the absence of a universal physical model that adequately describes intramolecular motion. We demonstrate that resonant excitation generates breather soliton molecules, with their resonance susceptibility exhibiting high amplitude-driven operations that can be well understood within the framework of the Duffing model. Harnessing powerful experiment techniques and detailed numerical simulations, we reveal the fundamental resonant mode within intrapulse separation constrained to the 100 fs level as well as the presence of the subharmonic and overtones. Additionally, we observe chaotic dynamics arising from the multiple-frequency nonlinear interactions in a strongly dissipative regime. Our work provides a perspective on the complex interactions of dissipative optical solitons through the lens of nonlinear physics. This approach offers a simple test bed for complex nonlinear physics research, with ultrafine scanning of temporal separations of ultrashort laser pulses demonstrating significant potential for applications requiring high detection sensitivity.