Dark three-sister rogue waves in normally dispersive optical fibers with random birefringence

We investigate dark rogue wave dynamics in normally dispersive birefringent optical fibers, based on the exact rational solutions of the coupled nonlinear Schrodinger equations. Analytical solutions are derived up to the second order via a nonrecursive Darboux transformation method. Vector dark ``three-sister'' rogue waves as well as their existence conditions are demonstrated. The robustness against small perturbations is numerically confirmed in spite of the onset of modulational instability, offering the possibility to observe such extreme events in normal optical fibers with random birefringence, or in other Manakov-type vector nonlinear media. (C) 2014 Optical Society of America