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.     

Multipulse bound solitons with fixed pulse separations formed by direct soliton interaction

We present experimental evidence of multipulse bound solitons with fixed pulse separations in a dispersion-managed passively mode-locked fiber ring laser. The bound solitons are formed by the direct soliton interaction and are strongly stable. Although formed under different experimental conditions, various multipulse bound solitons were found to have exactly the same fixed pulse separations. Bound states of the multipulse bound solitons were also experimentally obtained, which suggest that the multipulse in a bound soliton behaves as a unit. They together could be treated as a new form of soliton. PACS 42.81.Dp; 42.55.Wd; 42.60.Fc     

Bright-Dark Mixed N-Soliton Solution of the Two-Dimensional Maccari System

The general bright-dark mixed N-soliton solution of the two-dimensional Maccari system is obtained with the KP hierarchy reduction method. The dynamics of single and two solitons are discussed in detail. Asymptotic analysis shows that two solitons undergo elastic collision accompanied by a position shift. Furthermore, our analysis on mixed soliton bound states shows that arbitrary higher-order soliton bound states can take place.     

Asymmetrical surface soliton trains

We elucidate the existence, stability and propagation dynamics of multi-spot soliton packets in focusing saturable media. Such solitons are supported by an interface beside which two harmonically photonic lattices with different modulation depths are imprinted. We show that the surface model can support stable higher-order structures in the form of asymmetrical surface soliton trains, which is in sharp contrast to homogeneous media or uniform harmonic lattice modulations where stable asymmetrical multi-peaked solitons do not exist. Surface trains can be viewed as higher-order soliton states bound together by several different lowest order solitons with appropriate relative phases. Their existence as stable objects enriches the concept of compact manipulation of several different solitons as a single entity and offers additional freedom to control the shape of solitons by adjusting the modulation depths beside the interface.     

Interaction of spatially overlapping standing electromagnetic solitons in plasmas

Numerical investigations on mutual interactions between two spatially overlapping standing electromagnetic solitons in a cold unmagnetized plasma are reported. It is found that an initial state comprising of two overlapping standing solitons evolves into different end states, depending on the amplitudes of the two solitons and the phase difference between them. For small amplitude solitons with zero phase difference, we observe the formation of an oscillating bound state whose period depends on their initial separation. These results suggest the existence of a bound state made of two solitons in the relativistic cold plasma fluid model.     

Generation of bound solitons in actively phase modulation mode-locked fiber ring resonators

Bound solitons generated in actively mode-locked lasers enable new forms of pulse pairs and multiple pairs or groups of solitons in optical transmission or logics. In this paper, we present the generation of stable bound states of multiple solitons in an active mode-locked fiber laser using continuous phase modulation for wideband phase matching. Not only that dual-soliton bound states but also the triple- and quadruple-soliton pulses can be established. Simulation of the generated solitons are demonstrated. We have also prove by simulation that experimental relative phase difference and chirping caused by phase modulation of LiNbO₃ modulator in the fiber loop significantly influences the interaction between the solitons and hence their stability as they circulate in the anomalous path-averaged dispersion fiber loop.     

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.     

Upper threshold for stability of multipole-mode solitons in nonlocal nonlinear media

We address the stability of multipole-mode solitons in nonlocal Kerr-type nonlinear media. Such solitons comprise several out-of-phase peaks packed together by the forces acting between them. We discover that dipole-, triple-, and quadrupole-mode solitons can be made stable, whereas all higher-order soliton bound states are unstable.     

Vector solitons in the dynamics of anharmonic monatomic lattices

It is shown that three types of solitary acoustic waves can develop in anharmonic crystal lattices corresponding to the three branches of acoustic phonons. A system of three nonlinear Schrödinger equations is derived to describe this situation. For greatly different group velocities, the interaction between solitons reduces collisions between them. When the group velocities of the different acoustic modes in a lattice are close to one another, bound states of the corresponding types of solitary waves occur. Bound states of this sort are vector solitons, whose polarization varies along the pulse. If the transverse acoustic modes are degenerate in velocity, the situation is extremely similar to the propagation of pulses in optical fibers.     

Semidiscrete composite solitons in arrays of quadratically nonlinear waveguides

We demonstrate that an array of discrete waveguides on a slab substrate, both featuring chi2 nonlinearity, supports stable solitons composed of discrete and continuous components. Two classes of fundamental composite soliton are identified: ones consisting of a discrete fundamental-frequency (FF) component in the waveguide array, coupled to a continuous second-harmonic (SH) component in the slab waveguide, and solitons with an inverted FF/SH structure. Twisted bound states of the fundamental solitons are found, too. In contrast with the usual systems, the intersite-centered fundamental solitons and bound states with the twisted continuous components are stable over almost the entire domain of their existence.     

Surface gap solitons

We put forward the existence of surface gap solitons at the interface between uniform media and an optical lattice with defocusing nonlinearity. Such new type of solitons forms when the incident and reflected waves at the interface of the lattice experience Bragg scattering, and feature a combination of the unique properties of both surface waves and gap solitons. We discover that gap surface solitons exist only when the lattice depth exceeds a threshold value, that they can be made completely stable, and that they can form stable bound states.     

A (1+1)-dimensional integrable system with fifth order spectral problems and four dispersion relations

A new (1+1)-dimensional integrable model is investigated, of which the Lax integrability is shown by the existence of its fifth order spectral problems. Its bilinear form is obtained via introducing an auxiliary variable. The multiple soliton solutions are obtained by solving its bilinear system. It is shown that there are four different dispersion relations for multiple solitons. The amplitudes of the solitons are only wave number dependent while the velocities of the solitons are not only wave number dependent but also dispersion relation dependent. Because of the existence of four dispersion relations, the interactions among solitons are much more abundant because for any fixed wave number there are four different velocities including two left moving and two right moving. Especially, the existence of the multiple velocities makes the velocity resonant conditions can be readily satisfied to form many types of bound states including soliton molecules, soliton-breather molecules and breather molecules.     

Generation of spatial solitons using non-linear guided modes

We investigate how two-dimensional spatial optical solitons can be generated in a non-linear Kerr medium using the non-linear guided modes of a weakly-guiding slab waveguide with a linear core and a non-linear cladding as the source of excitation. Symmetric, antisymmetric and asymmetric non-linear modes are considered, from which we determine the parameters of single solitons, oscillating two-soliton bound states, and two repelling solitons, respectively. Both the beam propagation method and inverse scattering transform are used.     

Dissipative solitons driving and bound state control via parameter gradients

The effect of phase and intensity gradients on the motion of dissipative solitons in a nonlinear interferometer is investigated. We show how the forces exerted by parameter gradients on the solitons alter their interactions. Consequently, it is possible to tune the spectrum of soliton bound states via the introduction of proper spatial distribution of the system parameters. Furthermore, we show how the use of properly shaped parameter distributions can lead to a relevant reduction of the cross-talk between close by solitons in applications.     

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.     

Dynamics of periodic pulse collisions in a strongly dissipative-dispersive system

We report on the dynamics of the periodic collision process occurring between different pulse bound states in a stretched-pulse erbium-doped fiber laser. The acquisition of a large number of second-order correlation traces allows us to reconstruct the dynamics of a single collision event. The measurements clearly demonstrate that, unlike true solitons in the case of integrable systems, the pulses do not fully overlap in the course of a collision. Instead, the collision proceeds through the exchange of bonds between the individual pulses constituting the bound states.     

Lagrangian approach for dark soliton in nonlocal nonlinear media

We theoretically investigate the dynamics of dark solitons as well as their interaction in nonlocal media. Approximate equations describing the evolution of the beams are obtained via suitable trial functions of amplitude u and refractive index n in an averaged Lagrangian. Our results reveal that out-of-phase dark solitons can evolve into stable bound states in nonlocal materials. Moreover, it is found that the separations in the bound state monotonically increase with the degree of nonlocality in nonlocal limit. These results are in excellent agreement with the numerical simulations.     

强非局域介质中多个空间孤子的相互作用

研究了在强非局域情况下,非局域非线性介质中多个(大于两个)空间孤子相互作用的特点与规律。以Snyder-Mitchell线性模型为理论基础并利用线性叠加原理来构建解。另外,还采用了将孤子作为粒子处理的方法。主要考虑空间斜对称入射的三、四束光的相互作用,从而得出多个空间孤子相互作用的规律。还得出了(1 2)维多孤子相互作用的精确解析解,并且利用解析解画出了多孤子传输过程中的光强分布图。根据解析解发现,多孤子能形成稳定的束缚态向前传输,缠绕与否与初始入射方向有关;作用过程中并无能量转移,且相互作用与初始相位无关。将孤子作为粒子处理得到的孤子相互作用的规律与解析解得出的规律一致。     

Generation of high order multi-bound solitons and propagation in optical fibers

We demonstrate experimental generation of multi-bound solitons of up to sextuple in an active FM mode-locked fiber ring laser operating under power saturation in the locking state. The ring laser consists of two booster optical amplifiers operating in saturation regime, an electro-optic phase modulator driven by a sinusoidal electrical wave and a length of dispersive fiber. The periodic phase modulation generates phase chirp of the generated lightwaves in the ring laser. The chirped phase state plays an important role in the phase matching condition for mode-locking as well as the stabilization and the determination of the bound states of multi-solitons. The formation of such high order multi-bound solitons is explained based on the chirping of the phase and the behavior of the optical pulse sequence in the near field region of the dispersive fiber. The propagation of these multi-bound solitons through single mode optical fibers is observed. Experimental and simulation results of bound solitons have been shown to follow similar trends.The propagation of these multi-bound solitons through single mode optical fibers is described. Their mutual interaction through such quadratic phase media shows the influence of the quadratic phase property on the differential phase of individual solitons of the bound group. Simulated results confirm the evolution of the bound solitons over dispersive single mode optical fibers.     

Exact solitary-wave solutions of chi(2) Ginzburg-Landau equations

A family of exact temporal solitary-wave solutions (dissipative solitons) to the equations governing second-harmonic generation in quadratically nonlinear optical waveguides, in the presence of linear bandwidth-limited gain at the fundamental harmonic and linear loss at the second harmonic, is found, and the existence domain for the solutions is delineated. Direct numerical simulations of the solitons demonstrate that, as well as the classical pulse solutions to the cubic Ginzburg-Landau equation, the dissipative solitons can propagate robustly over a considerable distance before the model's intrinsic instability leads to onset of "turbulence." Two-soliton bound states are also predicted and then found in the direct simulations. We estimate real values of the physical parameters necessary for the existence of the solitons predicted, and conclude that they can be observed experimentally. A promising application for the solitons is their use in closed-loop cavities.