title: Fission of solitons in continuous-wave supercontinuum.
abstract: We use numerical simulations to revisit the generation of fiber supercontinua pumped by partially coherent continuous-wave (CW) sources. Specifically, we show that intensity fluctuations characteristic of temporal partial coherence can be described as a stochastic train of high-order solitons, whose individual dynamics drive continuum formation. For sources with sufficiently low coherence, these solitons actually undergo fission rather than modulation instability, changing the nature of the CW supercontinuum evolution.
authors.affiliation: Femtosecond Optics Group, Department of Physics, Blackett Laboratory, Prince Consort Road, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK. edmund.kelleher08@imperial.ac.uk
authors.forename: E J R
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Kelleher
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Erkintalo
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Travers