Modulational instability oscillation in nonlinear dispersive ring cavity

Abstract
Periodic-intensity self-oscillation caused by modulational instability is observed for the first time in a nonlinear dispersive fiber ring cavity. The oscillation stops immediately when the phase coherence is disturbed by cavity detuning. It is found that a noninstantaneous response of the nonlinear index competes with the modulational instability gain and produces asymmetrical Stokes sidebands.