Two-dimensional multipole solitons in nonlocal nonlinear media

We present the experimental observation of scalar multipole solitons in highly nonlocal nonlinear media, including dipole, tripole, quadrupole, and necklace-type solitons, organized as arrays of out-of-phase bright spots. These complex solitons are metastable, but with a large parameters range where the instability is weak, permitting their experimental observation.     

Observation of discrete solitons in optically induced real time waveguide arrays

We report the first experimental observation of discrete solitons in an array of optically induced waveguides. The waveguide lattice is induced in real time by illuminating a photorefractive crystal with a pair of interfering plane waves. We demonstrate two types of bright discrete solitons: in-phase self-localized states and the staggered (pi out-of-phase) soliton family. This experiment is the first observation of bright staggered solitons in any physical system. Our scheme paves the way for reconfigurable focusing and defocusing photonic lattices where low-power (mW) discrete solitons can be thoroughly investigated.     

Observation of bound states of interacting vector solitons

We report experimental observation of bound states formed by two well-separated vector spatial solitons as the result of a force balance between vector-soliton components. We also demonstrate a link between such soliton bound states and two-hump, two-mode solitons, along with the induced coherence effect observed for incoherently interacting solitons.     

Ultraviolet Solitons Generated bv Parametric Interactions

Through numerical experiments we show that the use ot spatial solitons in second-order parametric interactions could make possible the observation of solitons in the vicinity of the vacuum ultraviolet.     

Observation of vector solitons with hidden vorticity

This letter reports the first experimental observation, to our knowledge, of optical vector solitons composed of two incoherently coupled vortex components. We employ nematic liquid crystal to generate stable vector solitons with counterrotating vortices and hidden vorticity. In contrast, the solitons with explicit vorticity and corotating vortex components show azimuthal splitting.     

Observation of elliptic incoherent spatial solitons

We present the first experimental observation of spatially incoherent elliptic solitons. We use partially spatially incoherent light with anisotropic correlation statistics and observe elliptic solitons supported by the photorefractive screening nonlinearity.     

Observation of second-band vortex solitons in 2D photonic lattices

We demonstrate second-band bright vortex-array solitons in photonic lattices. This constitutes the first experimental observation of higher-band solitons in any 2D periodic system. These solitons possess complex intensity and phase structures, yet they can be excited by a simple highly localized vortex-ring beam. Finally, we show that the linear diffraction of such beams exhibits preferential transport along the lattice axes.     

Period-doubling of vector solitons in a ring fiber laser

Period-doubling of vector solitons in a ring fiber laser was experimentally observed for the first time. Apart from period-doubling of single vector soliton, period-doubling of multiple vector solitons was observed as well. Numerical simulation verified the experimental observation.     

Passive harmonic mode locking of soliton bunches in a fiber ring laser

We report on the experimental observation of passive harmonic mode locking of bunches of single-pulse solitons or twin-pulse solitons in an Erbium-doped fiber ring laser. Experimental investigations on the phenomenon revealed that, although the soliton interaction between the adjacent single-/twin-pulse solitons in a bunch is weaker than that of the pulse interaction in the twin-pulse solitons, a soliton bunch could also function as a unit and form the state of passively harmonic mode-locking. Harmonic mode-locking is one of the intrinsic characteristics of soliton emission in passively mode-locked fiber ring lasers. It can be formed based on the single-pulse soliton, twin-pulse soliton, or bunch of solitons.     

Bound states of solitons in a fiber laser mode locked with carbon nanotube saturable absorber

We report on the experimental observation of bound states of solitons in an erbium-doped fiber laser passively mode-locked by the carbon nanotube saturable absorber. Bound states of solitons with various pulse separations are obtained. While the tightly bound solitons always exhibit the same set of fixed discrete pulse separations with π or π/2 phase difference, the feature becomes less obvious for the loosely bound solitons. The result that various states of the bound solitons were obtained in the same fiber laser makes a systematic experimental study on them and a comparison of their properties possible. Our results once again show that the bound soliton emission is an intrinsic feature of the mode-locked soliton fiber lasers.     

Modulation instability of bright photovoltaic solitons on a partially incoherent background

We present the observation of incoherent anti-dark photovoltaic solitons in LiNbO₃:Fe crystal. This new class of soliton states involves bright photovoltaic solitons on a background beam meeting ?? > 1, where ?? is the ratio of background illumination photovoltaic constant to that of soliton beam. For ?? < 1, dark photovoltaic solitons are generated. Furthermore, this novel type solitons are investigated experimentally by injecting coherent light and partially coherent background of infinite extent. In case of spatial coherence of the background lower than the threshold of incoherent modulation instability, these results indicate that bright photovoltaic solitons can propagate in a stable fashion.     

Compression of Bright Bound Solitons in the Bose-Einstein Condensates with Exponentially Time-Dependent Atomic Scattering Length by the Feshbach Resonance

We investigate compression of the bright bound solitons in the Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) by exponentially increasing the absolute value of the atomic scattering length. Similarity transformation and Hirota bilinear method are used to symbolically solve the one-dimensional nonlinear Schrödinger equation with the time-dependent coefficients. We present types of the bright bound solitons in compression through manipulating their initial coherence. Results show that the improved quantity of the atomic density peaks can be observed before the collapse of the solitons when their coherence is increased. Furthermore, we discuss how those compressed bound solitons are influenced by the adjacent solitons. The bound structures in our study are illustrated to exist with the parameters within the current experimental capacity (the spatial and temporal ranges of the bound solitons are less than 56 μm and 50 ms in our investigation), which suggests a future observation in the BECs experiments.     

Generation of multiple gain-guided solitons in a fiber laser

We report the experimental observation of multiple gain-guided solitons in an erbium-doped fiber laser made of all normal-dispersion fibers. Numerical simulations show that, in the case of a narrow gain bandwidth, under the action of the cavity pulse peak clamping effect multiple gain-guided solitons can indeed be formed in a laser.     

Observation of mighty morphing spatial solitons

The experimental observation of bright spatial solitons in the form of mighty morphing solitons is reported for the first time to the author's knowledge. These are Gaussian-like beams of elliptical cross section, which appear to change their shape constantly as they propagate. Saturation of the nonlinear medium is shown to progress logarithmically.     

Observation of high-order polarization-locked vector solitons in a fiber laser

We report on the experimental observation of a new type of polarization-locked vector soliton in a passively mode-locked fiber laser. The vector soliton is characterized by the fact that not only are the two orthogonally polarized soliton components phase-locked, but also one of the components has a double-humped intensity profile. Multiple phase-locked high-order vector solitons with identical soliton parameters and harmonic mode locking of the vector solitons were also obtained in the laser. Numerical simulations confirmed the existence of stable high-order vector solitons in the fiber laser.     

Bright spatial solitons on a partially incoherent background

We present the first observation of incoherent antidark spatial solitons in noninstantaneous nonlinear media. This new class of soliton states involves bright solitons on a partially incoherent background of infinite extent. In the case where the nonlinearity is of the Kerr type, their existence is demonstrated analytically by means of an exact solution. Computer simulations and experiments indicate that these incoherent antidark solitons can propagate in a stable fashion provided that the spatial coherence of their background is reduced below the incoherent modulation instability threshold.     

Observation of two-dimensional lattice interface solitons

We report on the experimental observation of two-dimensional solitons at the interface between square and hexagonal waveguide arrays. In addition to the different symmetries of the lattices, the influence of a varying refractive index modulation depth is investigated. Such variation strongly affects the properties of surface solitons residing at different sides of the interface.     

Observation of a discrete family of dissipative solitons in a nonlinear optical system

We report on the observation of a discrete family of spatial dissipative solitons in a simple optical pattern forming system, which is based on a modified single-mirror feedback arrangement. After a pitchfork bifurcation the system possesses two (nearly) equivalent coexisting states of different polarizations. The spatial solitons correspond to excursions from one of the two states serving as a background state towards the other one. The members of the soliton family differ in the number of high-amplitude radial oscillations. The observations are in good agreement with numerical simulations and general expectations for dissipative solitons.     

Solitons in nonlinear media with an infinite range of nonlocality: first observation of coherent elliptic solitons and of vortex-ring solitons

We present an experimental study on wave propagation in highly nonlocal optically nonlinear media, for which far-away boundary conditions significantly affect the evolution of localized beams. As an example, we set the boundary conditions to be anisotropic and demonstrate the first experimental observation of coherent elliptic solitons. Furthermore, exploiting the natural ability of such nonlinearities to eliminate azimuthal instabilities, we perform the first observation of stable vortex-ring solitons. These features of highly nonlocal nonlinearities affected by far-away boundary conditions open new directions in nonlinear science by facilitating remote control over soliton propagation.     

Period-doubling of multiple solitons in a passively mode-locked fiber laser

We report on the experimental observation of period-doubling of randomly distributed multiple solitons in a passively mode-locked fiber laser. We show that after a period-doubling bifurcation, the period of each soliton in the cavity becomes doubled. However, the intensity variation of the solitons is not necessarily synchronized, indicating that their period-doubling is unrelated. Numerical simulations verified the experimental observations.