Dissipative rogue waves generated by chaotic pulse bunching in a mode-locked laser.

Rare events of extremely high optical intensity are experimentally recorded at the output of a mode-locked fiber laser that operates in a strongly dissipative regime of chaotic multiple-pulse generation. The probability distribution of these intensity fluctuations, which highly depend on the cavity parameters, features a long-tailed distribution. Recorded intensity fluctuations result from the ceaseless relative motion and nonlinear interaction of pulses within a temporally localized multisoliton phase.