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Dissipative solitons are fundamental wave-pulses that preserve their form inthe presence of periodic loss and gain. The canonical realization ofdissipative solitons is Kerr-lens mode locking in lasers, which delicatelybalance nonlinear and linear propagation in both time and space to generateultrashort optical pulses. This linear-nonlinear balance dictates a uniquepulse energy, which cannot be increased (say by elevated pumping), indicatingthat excess energy is expected to be radiated in the form of dispersive ordiffractive waves. Here we show that Kerr-lens mode-locked lasers can overcomethis expectation. Specifically, by breaking the spatial symmetry between theforward and backward halves of the round-trip in a linear cavity, the laser canmodify the soliton in space to incorporate the excess energy. Increasing thepump power leads therefore to a different soliton solution, rather than todispersive / diffractive loss. We predict this symmetry breaking by a completenumerical simulation of the spatio-temporal dynamics in the cavity, and confirmit experimentally in a Kerr-lens mode-locked Ti:Sapphire laser withquantitative agreement to the simulation. The simulation opens a window todirectly observe the nonlinear space-time dynamics that molds the solitonpulse, and possibly to optimize it.

Passive symmetry breaking of the space-time propagation in cavity dissipative solitons