Gain-controlled taming of recurrent modulation instability

We show how the recurrence phenomenon characteristic of the nonlinear stage of induced modulational instability in a passive fiber is affected by forcing. An additional linear amplification, even if extremely weak, induces separatrix crossing corresponding to critical values of the gain around which the recurrence process considerably slows down, switching between dynamical orbits of different kind. We present evidence for such phenomenon in a fiber optics experiment where the gain is finely tuned by means of Raman amplification. A theoretical explanation is also provided that matches almost perfectly with our experimental results.