  Mode-locked fibre lasers are important sources of ultrashort pulses, where
stable pulse generation is achieved through a balance of periodic amplitude and
phase evolutions. A range of distinct cavity pulse dynamics have been revealed,
arising from the interplay between dispersion and nonlinearity in addition to
dissipative processes such as filtering. This has led to the discovery of
numerous novel operating regimes, offering significantly improved laser
performance. In this Topical Review, we summarise the main steady-state pulse
dynamics reported to date through cavity dispersion engineering, including
average solitons, dispersion-managed solitons, dissipative solitons,
giant-chirped pulses and similaritons. Characteristic features and the
stabilisation mechanism of each regime are described, supported by numerical
modelling, in addition to the typical performance and limitations.
Opportunities for further pulse energy scaling are discussed, in addition to
considering other recent advances including automated self-tuning cavities and
fluoride-fibre-based mid-infrared mode-locked lasers.
