Classical condensation of light pulses in a loss trap in a laser cavity

We present an experimental demonstration of condensation in a many-light-pulse system in a loss trap (loss well) in a one-dimensional laser cavity. The route to condensation is similar to Bose–Einstein condensation in a potential trap (potential well), but classical. The pulses, their loss levels, and the noise-induced power distribution take the role of “particles”, “energy” levels, and quantum-thermal population-statistics, respectively. The multipulse system is formed by high harmonic active mode-locking modulation and the trap by an envelope modulation. The experiment is done with an erbium-doped fiber laser. Condensation is shown to occur when the loss trap has near the lowest-loss pulse a power law dependence with exponent smaller than 1, as the theory predicts.