Fig. 3: Experimental observation of replica symmetry breaking (RSB).

a,d,g,j Evolution of consecutive single-shot spectra (replicas) recorded using DFT (top) and the change of the wavelength position of the maximum intensity of the spectra over roundtrips (bottom). b,e,h,k Distribution \(P\left(q\right)\) of values of the intensity fluctuation overlap parameter \({q}_{{{\rm{\gamma }}}{{\rm{\beta }}}}\). c,f,i,l Pearson coefficient \({C}_{i,j}\) calculated from the spectra of the Er-doped fiber laser. Each line represents a distinct regime (top to bottom): stable mode-locking (SML), period-2 pulsating mode-locking (PML), period-7 PML, and aperiodic PML.