The evolution of soliton molecules emphasizes the complex soliton dynamics akin to matter molecules. Beyond the simplest soliton molecule—a soliton pair constituted by two bound pulses—soliton molecules with more constituents have more degrees of freedom because of the temporal pulse separations and relative phases. Here we detailedly characterize the transient dynamics of soliton triplets in fiber lasers by using the dispersive Fourier transform measurement. A particular form of leading, central, and tailing pulses is constructed to shed new light on more intriguing scenarios and fuel the molecular analogy. Especially the vibrating dynamics of the central and tailing pulses are captured near the regime of equally spaced soliton triplets, which is reminiscent of the recurrent timing jitters within multi-pulse structures. Further insights enable access into a universal form of unequally spaced soliton triplets interpreted as 2+1 soliton molecules. Different binding strengths of intramolecular and intermolecular bonds are validated with respect to the diverse internal motions involved in this soliton triplet molecule. All these findings unveil the transient dynamics with more degrees of freedom as well as highlight the possible application for all-optical bit storage.

中文翻译：

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光纤激光器中孤子三重态的瞬态动力学

孤子分子的演化强调了类似于物质分子的复杂孤子动力学。除了最简单的孤子分子——由两个束缚脉冲构成的孤子对——由于时间脉冲分离和相对相位，具有更多成分的孤子分子具有更多的自由度。在这里，我们通过使用色散傅立叶变换测量来详细表征光纤激光器中孤子三重态的瞬态动力学。构建了一种特殊形式的前导、中心和尾随脉冲，以揭示更有趣的场景并为分子类比提供燃料。特别是中心和尾脉冲的振动动力学在等距孤子三重态附近被捕获，这让人联想到多脉冲结构中的循环定时抖动。进一步的见解使我们能够了解被解释为 2+1 孤子分子的不等距孤子三重态的普遍形式。分子内和分子间键的不同结合强度在此孤子三重态分子中涉及的不同内部运动方面得到验证。所有这些发现都揭示了具有更多自由度的瞬态动力学，并突出了全光位存储的可能应用。