Interference properties of two-component matter wave solitons

Wave properties of solitons in a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate are investigated in detail.We demonstrate that dark solitons in one of components admit interference and tunneling behavior,in sharp contrast to the scalar dark solitons and vector dark solitons.Analytic analyses of interference properties show that spatial interference patterns are determined by the relative velocity of solitons,while temporal interference patterns depend on the velocities and widths of two solitons,differing from the interference properties of scalar bright solitons.Especially,for an attractive interactions system,we show that interference effects between the two dark solitons can induce some short-time density humps(whose densities are higher than background density).Moreover,the maximum hump value is remarkably sensitive to the variation of the solitons' parameters.For a repulsive interactions system,the temporal-spatial interference periods of dark-bright solitons have lower limits.Numerical simulation results suggest that interference patterns for the dark-bright solitons are more robust against noises than bright-dark solitons.These explicit interference properties can be used to measure the velocities and widths of solitons.It is expected that these interference behaviors can be observed experimentally and can be used to design matter wave soliton interferometer in vector systems.     

飞秒暗孤子间相互作用的数值研究

通过数值模拟对飞秒暗孤子间的相互作用进行了研究，并且同飞秒亮孤子和皮秒暗孤子分别进行了比较，结果表明：同飞秒亮孤子相比，飞秒暗孤子间的相互作用比较小，前者表现为相互吸引、碰撞、合二为一，然后相互排斥，不具有周期性；而后者从一开始就相互排斥，且这种排斥作用较亮孤子来说相当微弱，同样也不具有周期性。此外，数值模拟的结果还表明，飞秒暗孤子间的相互作用同皮秒尺度下暗孤子间的相互作用基本一致，并且通过计算表明，飞秒暗孤子间的相互作用在一定范围内仍可利用皮秒尺度下暗孤子间相互作用的经验公式。但是，数值模拟结果显示，两孤子的初始间距越小，由经验公式计算结果所带来的误差就越大。     

Matter-wave solitons in the presence of collisional inhomogeneities: Perturbation theory and the impact of derivative terms

We study the dynamics of bright and dark matter-wave solitons in the presence of a spatially varying nonlinearity. When the spatial variation does not involve zero crossings, a transformation is used to bring the problem to a standard nonlinear Schrödinger form, but with two additional terms: an effective potential one and a non-potential term. We illustrate how to apply perturbation theory of dark and bright solitons to the transformed equations. We develop the general case, but primarily focus on the non-standard special case whereby the potential term vanishes, for an inverse square spatial dependence of the nonlinearity. In both cases of repulsive and attractive interactions, appropriate versions of the soliton perturbation theory are shown to accurately describe the soliton dynamics.     

A semi-classical approach to two-frequency solitons in a three-level cascade atomic system

A semi-classical theory of two intense optical fields interacting with a third-order non-linear medium composed of a three-level cascade atomic system is presented. It is predicted that non-linear atom-field interactions allow the formation of two-frequency bright, dark and grey spatial solitons. We demonstrate through numerical simulations and analytic stability analysis that the bright and grey solitons are stable.     

The linear and nonlinear optical effects of white light

An overview of our research group’s experimental and theoretical developments is provided on the linear and nonlinear optical effects of white light since 2003. Their work includes the experimental researches on the white light one-dimensional photovoltaic dark spatial solitons and the waveguides and directional couplers induced by them, the circular and elliptic white-light dark spatial solitons and the white-light photorefractive phase masks, two-dimensional white-light photonic lattices and the applicati...     

Vortex rings and solitary waves in trapped Bose–Einstein condensates

We discuss nonlinear excitations in an atomic Bose–Einstein condensate which is trapped in a harmonic potential. We focus on axially symmetric solitary waves propagating along a cylindrical condensate. A quasi one-dimensional dark soliton is the only nonlinear mode for a condensate with weak interactions. For sufficiently strong interactions of experimental interest solitary waves are hybrids of one-dimensional dark solitons and three-dimensional vortex rings. The energy-momentum dispersion of these solitary waves exhibits characteristics similar to a mode proposed sometime ago by Lieb in a strictly 1D model, as well as some rotonlike features. We subsequently discuss interactions between solitary waves. Head-on collisions between dark solitons are elastic. Slow vortex rings collide elastically but faster ones form intermediate structures during collisions before they lose energy to the background fluid. Solitary waves and their interactions have been observed in experiments. However, some of their intriguing features still remain to be experimentally identified.     

Attraction of nonlocal dark optical solitons

We study the formation and interaction of spatial dark optical solitons in materials with a nonlocal nonlinear response. We show that unlike in local materials, where dark solitons typically repel, the nonlocal nonlinearity leads to a long-range attraction and formation of stable bound states of dark solitons.     

暗-暗与亮-暗光伏孤子相互作用

用数值方法分析了平行传播异色光伏暗孤子之间及亮-暗孤子之间的相互作用.结果表明，光伏暗孤子共轴传播能在有限的距离内保持准孤子形态，靠近传播时存在着相互吸引的作用 ，而相距较远传播时表现为一孤子暗区使另一孤子的缓变光场部分发生局部会聚作用.光伏暗孤子与亮孤子的相互作用随距离的不同可使亮孤子光强分布变尖锐或变平缓，以及使亮孤子发生能量转移.从两束信号光共同引起折射率波导这一物理机理对光伏孤子这些相互作用给出定性物理解释. 关键词： 光伏空间孤子 暗孤子 亮孤子 相互作用     

Do solitonlike self-similar waves exist in nonlinear optical media?

We show analytically that bright and dark spatial self-similar waves can propagate in graded-index amplifiers exhibiting self-focusing or self-defocusing Kerr nonlinearities. The intensity profiles of the novel waves are identical with those of fundamental bright or dark spatial solitons supported by homogeneous passive waveguides with the same type of nonlinearity. Thus, we reveal a previously unnoticed connection between spatial solitons and self-similar waves. We also suggest that the discovered self-similar waves can be used in a promising scheme for the amplification and focusing of spatial solitons in future all-optical networks.     

Optical solitons due to quadratic nonlinearities: from basic physics to futuristic applications

We present an overview of nonlinear phenomena related to optical quadratic solitons—intrinsically multi-component localized states of light, which can exist in media without inversion symmetry at the molecular level. Starting with presentation of a few derivation schemes of basic equations describing three-wave parametric wave mixing in diffractive and/or dispersive quadratic media, we discuss their continuous wave solutions and modulational instability phenomena, and then move to the classification and stability analysis of the parametric solitary waves. Not limiting ourselves to the simplest spatial and temporal quadratic solitons we also overview results related to the spatio-temporal solitons (light bullets), higher order quadratic solitons, solitons due to competing nonlinearities, dark solitons, gap solitons, cavity solitons and vortices. Special attention is paid to a comprehensive discussion of the recent experimental demonstrations of the parametric solitons including their interactions and switching. We also discuss connections of quadratic solitons with other types of solitons in optics and their interdisciplinary significance.     

Separate spatial soliton pairs in an unbiased series two-photon photorefractive crystal circuit

Dark (bright) steady-state spatial solitons are predicted in one dimension for a series circuit consisting of two two-photon photorefractive crystals of which at least one must be photovoltaic. Each crystal can support a spatial soliton. The two solitons are known collectively as separate spatial soliton pairs with three types: dark-dark, bright-dark and bright-bright. In the limit in which the optical wave has a spatial extent much less than the width of the crystal, the dark soliton can affect the other soliton by light-induced current, but the bright soliton cannot affect the other soliton in the soliton pair.     

Watching dark solitons decay into vortex rings in a Bose-Einstein condensate

We have created spatial dark solitons in two-component Bose-Einstein condensates in which the soliton exists in one of the condensate components and the soliton nodal plane is filled with the second component. The filled solitons are stable for hundreds of milliseconds. The filling can be selectively removed, making the soliton more susceptible to dynamical instabilities. For a condensate in a spherically symmetric potential, these instabilities cause the dark soliton to decay into stable vortex rings. We have imaged the resulting vortex rings.     

Higher-order space-charge field effects on the self-deflection of photovoltaic dark spatial solitons

We investigate theoretically the effects of higher-order space-charge field on the self-deflection of photovoltaic dark spatial solitons by numerical method under steady-state conditions. The expression for an induced space-charge electric field, including higher-order space-charge field terms is obtained. Numerical results indicate that photovoltaic dark solitons possess self-deflection process during propagation, and the solitons always bend in the direction of the c-axis of the crystal. The self-deflection of dark solitons can experience considerable increase especially in the regime of high photovoltaic field strengths. Relevant examples are provided.     

Separate holographic screening soliton pairs in a biased series photorefractive crystal circuit

Holographic dark (bright) screening solitons are predicted in one dimension for a series circuit consisting of two photorefractive crystals connected electronically by electrode leads in a chain with a voltage source. Each crystal can support a holographic screening soliton. The two solitons are known collectively as a separate holographic screening soliton pair with three types: bright--bright, bright--dark and dark--dark. The numerical results show that the two solitons in a soliton pair can affect each other through a light-induced current and their coupling can affect their spatial profiles under the limit in which the optical wave has a spatial extent much less than the width of the crystal.     

屏蔽光伏孤子诱导的非线性光波导

从理论上研究了由一维稳态屏蔽光伏孤子诱导的非线性波导,结果表明在加偏压的光伏光折变晶体中,例如铌酸锂,无论是明孤子还是暗孤子都能诱导出非线性波导.推导出了在一般条件和低振幅条件下探测光束满足的波方程.     

Waveguides induced by steady-state gray solitons in biased photorefractive-photovoltaic crystals

We carry out a theoretical investigation of the properties of waveguides induced by photorefractive one-dimensional steady-state gray spatial solitons (i.e., screening solitons, photovoltaic solitons, and screening-photovoltaic solitons). We demonstrate that waveguides induced by photorefractive steady-state gray spatial solitons are only a single guided mode for both all soliton graynesses and all values of ρ, where ρ is the ratio between the soliton peak intensity and the dark irradiance, and moreover, waveguides induced by gray photovoltaic solitons for closed-circuit condition are also only a single guided mode for all electric current densities. We find that the confined energy near the center of a photorefractive steady-state gray spatial soliton increases with ρ and decreases with an increase in the soliton grayness. We also find that the confined energy near the center of a gray photovoltaic soliton for closed-circuit condition increases with the electric current density. On the other hand, waveguides induced by gray screening-photovoltaic solitons are gray screening soliton-induced waveguides when the bulk photovoltaic effect is neglectable and are gray photovoltaic soliton-induced waveguides when the external bias field is absent.     

Separate spatial holographic and two-photon-Hamiltonian soliton pairs in an unbiased series photorefractive crystal circuit

This paper presents calculations for an idea in photorefractive spatial solitons, namely, a dissipative holographic soliton and a two-photon-Hamiltonian spatial soliton in one dimension form in an unbiased series photorefractive crystal circuit consisting of a single-photon photorefractive crystals and a two-photon one of which at least one must be photovoltaic. The two solitons are known collectively as a separate Holographic–Hamiltonian spatial soliton pair and there are two types: dark–dark and bright–dark if only one crystal of circuit is photovoltaic. The results show that the two-photon-Hamiltonian soliton in a soliton pair can affect the holographic one by light-induced current and the holographic soliton cannot affect the two-photon-Hamiltonian one.     

完全非相干白光一维光生伏打暗空间孤子

使用白炽灯作光源在LiNbO₃∶Fe晶体内实验观察到一维白光光生伏打暗空间孤 子. 由奇数 和偶数初始条件分别产生了灰孤子和灰孤子对，它们所感应的波导能导向白光和相干光. 用 相干光清楚地探测到它们内部的多模结构. 该实验证明了白光光生伏打暗空间孤子的存在， 并指出了用完全非相干的白光暗孤子控制和导向相干光的可能性. 关键词： 光生伏打效应 自陷 完全非相干孤子 波导     

多个部分非相干光孤子的相互作用

基于相干密度理论，数值地研究了在饱和对数非线性介质中多个部分非相干光空间孤子之间的相互作用. 数值结果表明，在非相干参量较小情况下，非相干光孤子的相互作用与相干光孤子的相互作用规律较类似. 当非相干参量较大时，强的非相干性模糊了孤子之间的相位关系，孤子间的相互作用主要以非相干相互吸引作用为主. 特别是在非相干参量较大而且孤子初始相对相位差为π的情况下，多个部分非相干光孤子可并行传播形成稳定的阵列孤子. 利用多个非相干光孤子的不同相互作用形态写入各种阵列波导，为实现光控制光、导向光提供了一种可能性. 关键词： 多个部分非相干光空间孤子 空间光孤子的相互作用 相干密度理论 饱和对数非线性     

Nonlinear theory of soliton-induced waveguides

We develop a nonlinear theory of soliton-induced waveguides that describe a finite-amplitude probe beam guided by a spatial dark soliton in a saturable nonlinear medium. We suggest an effective way to control the interaction of these soliton-induced waveguides and also show that, in sharp contrast with scalar dark solitons, the dark-soliton waveguides can attract each other and even form stationary bound states.