Chaos in an additive-pulse mode-locked laser

We present and analyze an experimental bifurcation diagram for the additive -pulse modelocked (APM) laser, reconfirming the existence of both quasiperi odicity and period-doubling bifurcations into chaos for this system. Large fiber coupling is required to observe period doublings into chaos, while qu asiperiodicity occurs for small fiber coupling. The experimental chaotic ti me series are reconstructed in phase space using the method of delayed coor dinates, then graphically compared with the expected orbits from APM simula tions. This experimental bifurcation diagram for the APM laser demonstrates that the main contribution to APM instability is in fact deterministic. (C ) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(00)04938-X].