Generation of two-soliton and three-soliton molecules in a circular fiber array laser

In this work, the generation of two-soliton and three-soliton molecules in a circular fiber array laser with an active optical central fiber is studied. Certain fibers of the array are excited by Gaussian and super-Gaussian pulses. The central fiber of the circular fiber laser is a rare-earth doped fiber. A circular fiber array is employed as a saturable absorber in a soliton mode locked fiber laser. Generation of two-soliton and three-soliton molecules are observed in our simulation. Numerical calculation of binding energy shows that the super-Gaussian pulse tends to be more stable, and therefore it would be a proper choice for the generation of soliton molecules in the circular fiber array laser. (paper)