Dynamics of self-similar sub-10-fs-pulses in an inhomogeneous highly nonlinear fibre amplifier

ABSTRACT

We study the propagation of ultrashort pulses of width around sub-10 femtosecond in an inhomogeneous highly nonlinear single-mode fibre within the framework of a generalized higher-order nonlinear Schrödinger equation with derivative non-Kerr nonlinear terms and spatially inhomogeneous coefficients. Additional effects to the cubic model include the distributed third-order dispersion, self-steepening, self-frequency shift due to stimulated Raman scattering, quintic nonKerr nonlinearity, derivative non-Kerr nonlinear terms, and gain or loss. The exact self-similar brightand dark-solitary-wave solutions of the governing equation are derived via a transformation connected with the constant-coefficient higher-order nonlinear Schrödinger equation with non-Kerr nonlinearity. The constraint relations among the optical fibre parameters for the existence of these self-similar structures are also discussed. Based on these exact solutions, we investigate the dynamical behaviours of self-similar localized pulses in a periodic distributed fibre system for different parameters.     

Modulation instability of light beam propagation near the supercollimation frequency in nonlinear photonic crystals

The modulation instability (MI) of light beam propagation near the supercollimation frequency in nonlinear photonic crystals was investigated. The role of the nonlinear diffraction effect, merged as a result of nonlinear tuning of the equal-frequency contour curvature, in MI is particularly identified. It is found that the nonlinear diffraction effect tends to stimulate or suppress MI depending on the sign of the product of nonlinear diffraction and Kerr effects. Further analysis reveals that the MI and soliton phenomenon may be steered by the tunable supercollimation frequency in nonlinear photonic crystals.     

Impacts of cross-phase modulation on modulation instability of Airy pulses

The modulation instability (MI) of Airy pulses with the influence of cross-phase modulation is studied based on the coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations in nonlinear media. The main lobe of Airy pulses can be manifested as breakup of MI under interaction with higher power pumped solitons, although the power of Airy pulses is small. By comparing the main lobe’s gain spectrum of MI, the gain spectrum has gradually improved with the increase of power of pumped solitons. The gain spectrum of MI of the main lobe is inversely proportional to the truncation coefficient, and then it gradually approaches to that of Gauss pulses with the truncation coefficient increasing to 1. For the side lobes of Airy pulses, there are similar MI but smaller gain spectrum than the main lobe when the pumped solitons is overlapping with corresponding ones of Airy pulses.     

Bright and dark solitons in the normal dispersion regime of inhomogeneous optical fibers

In this letter, under investigation is a nonlinear Schrödinger equation with varying dispersion, nonlinearity and loss for the propagation of ultra-short optical pulses in the normal dispersion regime of optical fibers. By virtue of the modified Hirota's method and symbolic computation, the analytic two-soliton solution is explicitly obtained. Both the bright and dark solitons are observed in the normal dispersion regime of optical fibers with dispersion management. An asymptotic analysis to verify the elastic collision between solitons is performed and the stability of the soliton solutions is investigated. Besides, a new bright solitonic generator for generating high-power and narrow bandwidth pulses is advised. Furthermore, possible applicable soliton control techniques which might be used for the design of optical switch and dispersion-managed systems are proposed.     

Periodic and solitary wave solutions for ultrashort pulses in negative-index materials

Abstract

We present a detailed analysis for the existence of dark and bright solitary waves as also fractional-transform solutions in a nonlinear Schrödinger equation model for competing cubic–quintic and higher-order nonlinearities with dispersive permittivity and permeability. Parameter domains are delineated in which these ultrashort optical pulses exist in negative-index materials (NIMs). For example, dark solitons exist for the case of normal second-order dispersion, anomalous third-order dispersion, self-focusing Kerr nonlinearity, and non-Kerr nonlinearities, while the bright solitons exist for the case of anomalous second-order dispersion, normal third-order dispersion, self-focusing Kerr nonlinearity, and non-Kerr nonlinearities. This is contrary to the situation in ordinary materials.     

Modulation instability scenario in negative index materials

We present an investigation of the critical frequency windows permitting modulation instability in negative index materials. The principal motivation for our analysis stems from the impact of the inevitable presence of the effective dispersive magnetic permeability in addition to the effective dielectric permittivity determining the propagation model for ultrashort pulses in negative index materials. We emphasize the influence of nonlinear dispersion terms, arising out of the combinatorial effect of the dispersive permeability with the nonlinear polarization, over the MI phenomena, the outcome of its development achieved by using linear stability analysis. Gain spectrum investigation has been carried out for both anomalous and normal dispersion regime in the focusing and defocusing cases of nonlinearity and near zero dispersion regime where higher order linear dispersive effects emerge. The results of linear stability analysis have been validated by direct numerical simulation of the governing equation using the split-step Fourier transform method. We show that second-order nonlinear dispersion opens up distinct MI windows with their appropriate conditions and unlike the first-order nonlinear dispersion term, the sign of it has got deep consequences in the modulation instability scenario.     

Analytic study on bound solitons and soliton collisions for the coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations

A type of mode-locked fiber laser, which can generate the bound solitons in the anomalous group-velocity dispersion regime, is suggested in this paper via symbolic computation. A transformation is given to convert the coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations to a simpler form. Analytic two-, three- and N-soliton solutions for the coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations are obtained. Based on those solutions, formation of the bound solitons is analyzed, and methods for the soliton control are presented. The soliton intensity and collision period can be controlled with the changes in the nonlinearity and group-velocity dispersion of optical fibers. The slight phase shift has a great influence on the bound states of solitons after the soliton collision. To support the results, numerical simulations of three-soliton propagation are performed. Finally, the modulational instability of bound solitons is analyzed.     

Analytic study on soliton-effect pulse compression in dispersion-shifted fibers with symbolic computation

The soliton-effect pulse compression of ultrashort solitons in a dispersion-shifted fiber (DSF) is investigated based on solving the higher-order nonlinear Schrödinger equation with the effects of third-order dispersion (TOD), self-steepening (SS) and stimulated Raman scattering (SRS). By using Hirota's bilinear method with a set of parametric conditions, the analytic one-, two- and three-soliton solutions of this model are obtained. According to those solutions, the higher-order soliton is shown to be compressed in the DSF for the pulse with width in the range of a few picoseconds or less. An appealing feature of the soliton-effect pulse compression is that, in contrast to the second-order soliton compression due to the combined effects of negative TOD and SRS, the third-order soliton can significantly enhance the soliton compression in the DSF with small values of the group-velocity dispersion (GVD) at the operating wavelength.     

Analytic study on the pulse transmission control system in dispersion decreasing fibers

Transmission control using dispersion decreasing fibers with potential applications to the design of high-speed optical devices and long distance transmission of pulses is investigated based on solving the variable-coefficient nonlinear Schrödinger equation. By using Hirota's method, the analytic fundamental soliton solution of this model is obtained. In addition, according to this solution, the relevant properties and features of physical and optical interest are illustrated. Furthermore, the profiles of dispersion decreasing fibers are found to be able to control the pulse speed under certain conditions.     

Spectral evolution of an optical pattern generated by spatial modulation instability in a reorientational Kerr nonlinear medium

An experimental investigation is reported on the role of molecular reorientational nonlinearity in the spectral evolution of multifilamentation patterns induced by spatial modulation instability (MI) in a nonlinear Kerr medium. The influence of molecular reorientational Kerr nonlinear response on the spatial MI is analyzed theoretically by the standard stability analysis. The spatial MI gain spectra obtained by experimental measurements were found to agree with the theoretical derivation. In addition, by changing the launch average power, we also analyze the spatial spectral behavior of the optical pattern in such media. It is shown that, for higher launch average power, there will be secondary spatial stripes, manifesting as the original spatial modulation frequency doubling in the spatial frequency domain, which originated from the molecular reorientational Kerr nonlinearity response.     

Mixed-type solitons for the coupled higher-order nonlinear Schrödinger equations in multi-mode and birefringent fibers

Abstract

In this paper, coupled higher-order nonlinear Schrödinger equations are studied for the ultrashort pulse propagation in such optical media as the multi-mode fibers and birefringent fibers. Through the Hirota method and symbolic computation, analytic mixed-type one- and two-soliton solutions are derived, and three sets of conditions for the non-singular solutions are given as well. Via the one-soliton solutions obtained, critical condition for the black and gray solitons is obtained analytically. Asymptotic analysis is carried out on the two-soliton solutions to derive the condition for the inelastic interaction. Evolution of the bound vector solitons, elastic and inelastic interactions between the two vector solitons are also investigated graphically. Moreover, after the inelastic interaction, the two bright solitons are observed to disappear, while the two dark ones form the new bound soliton.     

Simulation of polarization effects in diffraction problems of optical recording

The reflection of a focused spot from a digital versatile disk (DVD) depends strongly on the polarization of the light. When the spot is polarized such that the magnetic field is mainly parallel to the tracks on the disk, the reflected near field is very sensitive to the width and depth of the pit. Simulations suggest that also the far-field intensity distribution is sensitive to subwavelength features. Several modifications of the pit geometry of the DVD format are considered with the aim of increasing storage densities.     

Symbolic computation on soliton dynamics and Bäcklund transformation for the generalized coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations with cubic-quintic nonlinearity

In this paper, we study the generalized coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations with the cubic-quintic nonlinearity and arbitrary coupling parameters which describe the effects of the quintic nonlinearity on the ultrashort optical soliton pulse propagation in the non-Kerr media. Dark–dark N- and bright–dark two-soliton solutions are derived with symbolic computation. The bilinear Bäcklund transformation and the corresponding one-soliton solution are also given. Interactions of the dark–dark solitons including the repulsive and coherent interactions are investigated analytically and graphically, which are different from those in previous studies. The relationship between the amplitude and the velocity of the dark soliton is studied, especially the soliton with the small amplitude catches up with the one with the large amplitude. Head-on and overtaking interactions of dark–dark solitons are presented. Interactions between a stationary dark soliton and another dark one are shown. The asymptotic analysis shows that the interaction of dark–dark two solitons is elastic. The periodic attraction and repulsion of the bright–dark two solitons in the bound state are also analyzed, which are in accordance with those in the bright–dark vector soliton studies but different from the asymmetric and symmetric stationary bound states of Manakov bright–dark solitons.     

Inverse scattering with fixed observation angle data in 2D

We study the inverse scattering problem with fixed observation angle data for a non-linear Schrödinger equation in 2D. We show that the main singularities of an unknown potential can be recovered from the Born approximation. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the method.     

Analytical study of optical solitons in media with Kerr and parabolic-law nonlinearities

The nonlinear optical transmission equation was investigated in the presence of detuning, inter-modal dispersion, time- and space-modulated external potentials, and dissipation. Optical solitons, triangular periodic solutions, and Jacobian elliptic periodic solutions are constructed with the aid of the self-similarity transformation and Jacobian elliptic equation expansion methods. The conditions for analytical solutions to exist are obtained. Both Kerr-law as well as parabolic-law nonlinear media are considered.     

Semi-analytical method for designing finite sets of discriminated solitons and soliton molecules in fibres

An infinite number of solitons, as well as soliton molecules belonging different families, are allowed to propagate stably along a given dispersion-managed optical fibre. In this paper, we propose a semi-analytical method to systematically find a finite number of solitons and two-soliton molecules. Determined solitons and soliton molecules present a greatest power gap between them, to make them sufficiently distinct symbols for encoding several bits of information per symbol in a multilevel modulation format in fibre-optic transmission systems. Furthermore, for illustrative purposes, we discuss the possibility of encoding three bits per symbol.     

Enigmas of optical and matter-wave soliton nonlinear tunneling

The method of mathematical analogies opens the possibility to study optical and matter-wave solitons in parallel and, due to the evident complexity of experiments with matter wave solitons, offers remarkable possibilities in studies of the BEC systems by performing experiments in the nonlinear optical systems and vice versa. We discuss previous misinterpretations of the binding soliton energy and investigate all possible scenarios of nonlinear soliton tunneling of Schrödinger solitons including soliton splitting on a potential barrier, leading to partial reflection and partial transmission, sub-barrier soliton tunneling and over-barrier soliton reflection. We reveal the most significant modifications of soliton tunneling scenarios due to increasing the binding energy, and show that the self-compressing soliton resembles more the classical particle case than a quantum mechanical behavior. The enhancement of the soliton binding energy is of decisive importance in the testing of a long-standing theoretical result which predicts that an optical soliton can tunnel between two regions of anomalous dispersion across a forbidden region of normal dispersion (enhanced soliton spectral tunneling effect).     

General features of spatiotemporal instability induced by arbitrary high-order nonlinear dispersions in metamaterials

Spatiotemporal instability (STI) in metamaterials (MMs) with a Kerr-type nonlinear polarization is investigated. A general expression for instability gain, taking account of the effects of arbitrary high-order linear and nonlinear dispersions, is derived. Special attention is paid to the general features of instability induced by nonlinear dispersion effects originating from the combination of dispersive magnetic permeability and nonlinear polarization. It is shown that, just like their linear counterparts, all even-order nonlinear dispersions not only deform the original instability regions, but also may lead to the appearance of new instability regions. However, all odd-order nonlinear dispersions always suppress STI irrespective of their signs, quite different from their linear counterparts which exert no influence on instability. Moreover, we find that, unlike the linear dispersions, the nonlinear dispersions lead to the dependence of gain peak on the spatial modulation frequency. The role of the first-order nonlinear dispersion, namely self-steepening (SS), and second-order nonlinear dispersion (SND) in STI is particularly analyzed to illustratively demonstrate the general results.