Solitary waves in ultrafast fiber lasers: From solitons to dissipative solitons

The development of the connections between ultrafast laser dynamics and solitary waves concepts is presented, with an attempt to emphasize on important research milestones and conceptual advances. At various stages, the concepts of conventional and dissipative solitons are found to echo, oppose, or complement each other. The pivotal role of fiber lasers is highlighted, which multiplied the investigation of ultrafast laser dynamics since the 90s, and lead to the widespread usage of dissipative soliton concepts that were instrumental in understanding original dynamical regimes and related optical waveforms, such as the generation of bright solitons in the normal dispersion regime and the self-assembly of optical soliton molecules within laser cavities.