Generation of giant periodic pulses in the array of erbium-doped fiber lasers by controlling multistability

We propose an experimental arrangement to increase pulse energy in the array of erbium-doped fiber lasers (EDFLs). The experimental setup consists of three coupled periodically modulated multistable EDFLs; one master laser and two slave lasers. The master laser is tuned to the coexisting attractor with the largest peak amplitude and synchronizes the slave lasers to maintain them in the same attractor as the master laser. Summing the outputs of the slave lasers we obtain laser pulsations with a double peak intensity. The number of slave lasers can be augmented to further increase the sum peak power. •A new method for increasing laser pulse energy is proposed.•The method is based on controlling multistability in the array of erbium-doped fiber lasers.•In our experiment with two slave lasers, the pulse energy was amplified by a factor of 40.•Higher amplification can be achieved by increasing the number of slave lasers.