Continuation of periodic solutions in the waveguide array mode-locked laser

We apply the adjoint continuation method to construct highly accurate, periodic solutions that are observed to play a critical role in the multi-pulsing transition of mode-locked laser cavities. The method allows for the construction of solution branches and the identification of their bifurcation structure. Supplementing the adjoint continuation method with a computation of the Floquet multipliers allows for explicit determination of the stability of each branch. This method reveals that, when gain is increased, the multi-pulsing transition starts with a Hopf bifurcation, followed by a period-doubling bifurcation, and a saddle–node bifurcation for limit cycles. Finally, the system exhibits chaotic dynamics and transitions to the double-pulse solutions. Although this method is applied specifically to the waveguide array mode-locking model, the multi-pulsing transition is conjectured to be ubiquitous and these results agree with experimental and computational results from other models.

► Studied the multi-pulsing transition in mode-locked waveguide array lasers.
► Tracked branches of periodic solutions with the adjoint continuation method.
► Explicit computation of the limit cycle bifurcations with the monodromy matrix.
► Good agreement with previous low-dimensional and experimental models.