Incoherent optical switching of semiconductor resonator solitons

We demonstrate experimentally the bistable nature of the bright resonator solitons in a semiconductor microresonator with mixed absorptive/defocusing nonlinearity and show that they can be written and erased by incoherent local optical injection. Received: 22 February 2001 / Published online: 27 April 2001     

Spatial solitons in a semiconductor microresonator

We show experimentally the existence of bright and dark spatial solitons in a passive quantum-well-semi-conductor resonator of large Fresnel number with mixed absorptive defocusing nonlinearity. Several of the solitons can exist simultaneously as required for applications. Received: 17 November 2000 / Published online: 13 December 2000     

Spatial solitons in a pumped semiconductor resonator

Bright and dark spatial solitons are observed in an optically pumped semiconductor resonator. The pumping allows us to reduce considerably the light intensity necessary for the existence of the solitons and alleviates thermal load problems. Experiments are found to agree qualitatively with calculations based on a simple large-aperture semiconductor resonator model. The role of the signs of the absorptive and reactive nonlinearities in soliton existence is discussed in relation to the nonlinear resonance effect, the tilted-wave mechanism of pattern formation, and the sign of the population inversion.     

Solitons and vortices in lasers

We give in this article the mathematical background for pattern formation in nonlinear active resonators, elucidating the relation of optics with other fields of physics, and demonstrate experimentally the existence, properties, and dynamics of: (i) vortices in lasers, (ii) bright spatial solitons in lasers with saturable absorber, and (iii) spatial solitons in degenerate parametric mixing. All these structures are by definition bistable so that they are potentially useful for parallel optical information processing. Received: 8 June 1998     

Opto-electronic bistable devices in real-time optical information processing

An opto-electronic bistable device using a twisted nematic liquid crystal cell is described. The optical bistability characteristics of this device are used in a new liquid crystal light valve with bistability in cellular array structure. Experimental studies demonstrate the applications of such opto-electronic bistable devices in real-time optical information processing such as intensity limiting for contrast improvement and noise elimination, edge enhancement for pattern recognition, linear and nonlinear optical filtering (in spatial and spectral domains).     

Coherent interactions of dissipative spatial solitons

We report observation of the interaction between two coherent dissipative spatial solitons in a periodically patterned semiconductor optical amplifier with power levels of tens of milliwatts. The interactions are nonlocal and phase dependent and exhibit surprising features, such as soliton birth. The experimental results are in good agreement with the numerical simulations.     

Gray spatial solitons in biased two-photon photovoltaic photorefractive crystals

This paper predicts that gray spatial solitons can exist in biased two-photon photovoltaic photorefractive crystals. Under appropriate conditions and in the steady state, the gray spatial solitons solution of the optical evolution equation is obtained. The properties associated with these solitons, such as their intensity profile, intensity full width at half-maximum, width, transverse velocity and phase distribution, are discussed as functions of their normalized intensity and degree of “grayness”. Relevant examples are provided.     

Optical bistability and spatial resonator solitons based on exciton-polariton nonlinearity

We show experimentally optical bistability and the existence of bright and dark resonator solitons in the strong coupling regime between quantum-well excitons and the optical field in a semiconductor microcavity. The strong coupling results in a quasi-particle exciton-polariton, which gives access to positive and negative reactive and dissipative optical nonlinearities, as opposed to the usual room temperature semiconductor nonlinearities possessing essentially only one sign. The existence range and the properties of solitons can be varied widely by the detuning between polariton states and light frequency.     

Incoherently coupled screening photovoltaic spatial solitons in biased photovoltaic photorefractive crystals

Propagation characteristics and stability properties of two-component composite screening photovoltaic spatial solitons have been analyzed in this paper. Employing paraxial ray approximation, we have identified a very large family of new two-component composite screening photovoltaic solitons in photovoltaic-photorefractive crystals. These composite solitons can exist only when the carrier beams have the same polarization, wavelength and are mutually incoherent. We have identified a wide parameter space involving spatial width and power where these composite solitons can exist as a stationary entity. The identified regions of existence of solitons give a deeper understanding of these solitons and reveal some interesting properties. We have shown that composite solitons with different widths cannot propagate as a stationary entity. A relevant example has been provided where the crystal is LiNbO₃ or BaTiO₃. In addition, we have shown that in the new family of solitons, a degenerate pair with equal peak power possesses bistable property. Both paraxial theory and numerical simulation show that the identified family of composite solitons is stable.     

Spatial weak infrared-light bright and dark solitons in semiconductor quantum-dot nanostructures

The formation of spatial weak infrared-light solitons through interband and intersubband transitions in semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) is theoretically investigated with feasible parameters. Our analysis is shown using GaAs-Al-GaAs QD structures that allow operation at communication wavelength. Such a three-level QD solid-state system for the infrared-light-soliton operation is much more practical than that in gaseous media as a result of its flexible design and the wide adjustable parameters and thus facilitate more practical applications in optical signal processing and telecommunication.     

Optical phase conjugation in nonresonant and saturable absorptive/resonant systems

Recent results obtained at Alabama A&M University on optical phase conjugation in electrically unpoled BaTiO₃, BANANA and SBN crystals are presented. The decay curves of the transient gratings and phase conjugation in these crystals indicate the involvement of more than one exponential process, possible reasons for which are indicated. Self induced gratings have been studied in electrically unpoled SBN crystal using a He−Ne Laser. The oscillations in a ring passive phase conjugator (RPPC) and in a unidirectional ring resonator using an electrically poled BaTiO₃ crystal have, been found to be bistable. It is also found that bistable oscillations are possible in a geometry in which the crystal is used simultaneously in a RPPC and as a linear passive phase conjugate (LPCC) mirror. The auxiliary oscillations pumped by the RPPC are bistable with the oscillations in LPCC. A brief review of the recent literature on phase conjugation in saturable absorptive/resonant systems along with the experiments planned to be undertaken by the authors on such systems are presented.     

Nonlinear polarization bistability in optical nanowires

Using the full vectorial nonlinear Schr?dinger equations that describe nonlinear processes in isotropic optical nanowires, we show that there exist structural anisotropic nonlinearities that lead to unstable polarization states that exhibit periodic bistable behavior. We analyze and solve the nonlinear equations for continuous waves by means of a Lagrangian formulation and show that the system has bistable states and also kink solitons that are limiting forms of the bistable states.     

Stability properties of multiwavelength, incoherent, dissipative spatial solitons

We have investigated the interaction between two dissipative spatial solitons of different frequencies in periodically patterned semiconductor optical amplifiers. The experimental results are in good agreement with the theory. Simulations suggest that multiwavelength interactions do not produce stable bound solitons unless the system's modeling equations are completely symmetric.     

Grey spatial solitons due to two-photon photorefractive effect

This paper predicts that grey spatial solitons can exist in two-photon photorefractive materials. In steady state and under appropriate external bias conditions, it obtains the grey spatial soliton solutions of the optical wave evolution equation. The intensity profile, phase distribution,and transverse velocity of these grey solitons are discussed.     

Counterpropagating optical beams and solitons

Physics of counterpropagating optical beams and spatial optical solitons is reviewed, including the formation of stationary states and spatiotemporal instabilities. First, several models describing the evolution and interactions between optical beams and spatial solitons are discussed, that propagate in opposite directions in nonlinear media. It is shown that coherent collisions between counterpropagating beams give rise to an interesting focusing mechanism resulting from the interference between the beams, and that interactions between such beams are insensitive to the relative phase between them. Second, recent experimental observations of the counterpropagation effects and instabilities in waveguides and bulk geometries, as well as in one‐ and two‐dimensional photonic lattices are discussed. A variety of different generalizations of this concept are summarized, including the counterpropagating beams of complex structures, such as multipole beams and optical vortices, as well as the beams in different media, such as photorefractive materials and liquid crystals.     

Two-Dimensional Laguerre--Gaussian Asymmetric Soliton Family in Strongly Nonlocal Media

We demonstrate the existence of a broad class of higher-order Laguerre Gaussian asymmetric spatial optical solitons in strongly nonlocal nonlinear media. Furthermore, we discuss specific values （q = 0） of the modulation depth parameter for different rational values of the topological charge in detail. Our results show that higherorder asymmetry spatial sofiton family can exist in various forms, such as two-dimensional defect haff-solitons, asymmetric single-layer and multi-layer necklace solitons.     

向列相液晶中空间光孤子的观测

分别以He-Ne激光器、半导体激光器和Ar⁺激光器作为光源照射液晶材料，在低光强入射的情况下均观察到了光束的自聚焦现象以及空间光孤子的形成，观察到了长度l>5mm的孤子波和多模空间光孤子，并对空间孤子的产生条件及特性进行了讨论. 关键词： 自聚焦 空间光孤子 向列相液晶     

Secondary bistable solitons in non-linear gradient index media

Secondary bistable solitons have been calculated for a non-linear optical inhomogeneous medium with parabolic gradient index and quadratic intensity-dependent refractive index change. The remarkable effect of inhomogeneities on the existence and stability of bistable solitons has been studied. The results obtained are compared with those from homogeneous solitons.     

Two-component spatial optical solitons in a four-state ladder system via electromagnetically induced transparency

We propose a scheme to generate two-component spatial optical solitons in a lifetime broadened four state atomic system with a ladder configuration via electromagnetically induced transparency. We show that, different from the schemes using passive optical media such as photorefractives and planar waveguides, the two-component spatial optical solitons in the present coherent resonant system can be produced with very low light intensity. The stability of the two-component spatial optical solitons and their interaction are also investigated by numerical simulations.     

空间调制作用下Bessel型光晶格中物质波孤立子的稳定性

利用变分法和数值计算方法研究了空间调制作用下Bessel型光晶格中玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体系中孤立子的稳定性, 给出了存在随空间非周期变化的线性Bessel型光晶格和非线性光晶格(原子之间非线性相互作用的空间调制)时, 各种参数组合下涡旋和非涡旋孤立子的稳定性条件. 首先, 利用圆对称的高斯型试探波函数得出描述体系稳定性参数满足的Euler-Lagrange方程和变分法分析体系稳定性所需要的有效作用势能的表达式. 然后, 根据有效作用势能是否具有局域最小值判断体系是否具有稳定状态, 得出体系具有稳定状态时参数所满足的条件. 最后, 利用有限差分法求解Gross-Pitaevskii方程验证变分法结果的正确性, 所得结果和变分法结果一致. 关键词： Bessel型光晶格 非线性光晶格 孤立子 稳定性