Optical switching between bistable soliton states: a theoretical review

In this paper we summarize what is currently known about optical switching between bright bistable soliton states in one and higher dimensions. A guideline to selecting media with appropriate intensity-dependent refractive indices to support bistable solitary waves is presented. The stability criterion for robustness of the solitary waves is discussed. Finally, some methods and numerical examples of optical switching are presented.     

Dynamics of magnetization in ferromagnet with spin-transfer torque

We review our recent works on dynamics of magnetization in ferromagnet with spin-transfer torque. Driven by constant spin-polarized current, the spin-transfer torque counteracts both the precession driven by the effective field and the Gilbert damping term different from the common understanding. When the spin current exceeds the critical value, the conjunctive action of Gilbert damping and spin-transfer torque leads naturally the novel screw-pitch effect characterized by the temporal oscillation of domain wall velocity and width. Driven by space- and time-dependent spin-polarized current and magnetic field, we expatiate the formation of domain wall velocity in ferromagnetic nanowire. We discuss the properties of dynamic magnetic soliton in uniaxial anisotropic ferromagnetic nanowire driven by spin-transfer torque, and analyze the modulation instability and dark soliton on the spin wave background, which shows the characteristic breather behavior of the soliton as it propagates along the ferromagnetic nanowire. With stronger breather character, we get the novel magnetic rogue wave and clarify its formation mechanism. The generation of magnetic rogue wave mainly arises from the accumulation of energy and magnons toward to its central part. We also observe that the spin-polarized current can control the exchange rate of magnons between the envelope soliton and the background, and the critical current condition is obtained analytically. At last, we have theoretically investigated the current-excited and frequency-adjusted ferromagnetic resonance in magnetic trilayers. A particular case of the perpendicular analyzer reveals that the ferromagnetic resonance curves, including the resonant location and the resonant linewidth, can be adjusted by changing the pinned magnetization direction and the direct current. Under the control of the current and external magnetic field, several magnetic states, such as quasi-parallel and quasi-antiparallel stable states, out-of-plane precession, and bistable states can be realized. Th     

Bistable soliton states and switching in doubly inhomogeneously doped fiber couplers

Switching between the bistable soliton states in a doubly and inhomogeneously doped fiber system is studied numerically. Both the cases of lossless as well as lossy couplers are considered. It is shown that both up-switching (from the low state to the high state) and down-switching (from the high state to the low state) of solitons between bistable states are realizable, if the amplification of the input soliton for up-switching and the extraction of energy from it for down-switching are suitably adjusted.     

Manipulation of magnetic particles by patterned arrays of magnetic spin-valve traps

A novel platform for microfluidic manipulation of magnetic particles is discussed. The particles are confined by an array of magnetic spin valves with bistable ferromagnetic “ON” and antiferromagnetic “OFF” net magnetization states. The switchable fringing fields near the spin-valve traps can be used to selectively confine or release particles for transport or sorting. Spin-valve traps may be potentially used as magnetic molecular tweezers or adapted to a low-power magnetic random access memory (MRAM) switching architecture for massively parallel particle sorting applications.     

非相干多分量空间双稳态孤子

非相干多分量光束在高阶非线性介质中可以形成双稳态孤子.利用相干密度法首次得到了非相干多分量双稳态孤子的解析表达式.介质的高阶非线性决定了双稳态孤子的存在范围和峰值强度.得到了光束的截止波长，最小宽度和介质的非线性条件，并研究了非相干多分量光束中相干分量的传输演化.利用稳定性条件，严格证明了非相干多分量双稳态孤子在介质中可以保持稳定传播. 关键词： 非相干多分量光束 空间孤子 双稳态     

Nonlocal Optical Spatial Soliton with a Non-parabolic Symmetry and Real-valued Convolution Response Kernel

Based on the picture of nonlinear and non-parabolic symmetry response, i.e., Δn₂(I)≈ρ(a₀+a₁x-a₂x²), we propose a model for the transversal beam intensity distribution of the nonlocal spatial soliton. In this model, as a convolution response with non-parabolic symmetry, Δ n₂(I)≈ρ(b₀+b₁f-b₂f² with b₂/b₁>0 is assumed. Furthermore, instead of the wave function Ψ, the high-order nonlinear equation for the beam intensity distribution f has been derived and the bell-shaped soliton solution with the envelope form has been obtained. The results demonstrate that, since the existence of the terms of non-parabolic response, the nonlocal spatial soliton has the bistable state solution. If the frequency shift of wave number β satisfies 0<4(β-ρb₀/μ)<3η₀/8α, the bistable state soliton solution is stable against perturbation. It should be emphasized that the soliton solution arising from a parabolic-symmetry response kernel is trivial. The sufficient condition for the existence of bistable state soliton solution b₂/b₁>0 has been demonstrated.     

Exchange bias for ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic bilayers with the uniaxial anisotropy being misaligned with the exchange anisotropy

Using the principle of minimal energy and S-W model, the exchange bias for ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic bilayers has been investigated when the uniaxial anisotropy is misaligned with the exchange anisotropy. According to the relation between the energy of the bilayer and the orientation of ferromagnetic magnetization, it is found that the bilayer will be in the monostable state or bistable state when the external field is absent in the initial magnetization state. The monostable state or bistable state of the bilayer, which determines the angular dependence of exchange bias directly, is controlled by the competition between the exchange anisotropy and uniaxial anisotropy. When the applied field is parallel to the intrinsic easy axes and intrinsic hard axes, one of the switching fields of the hysteresis loop shows an abrupt change, while the other keep continuous by analyzing the magnetization reversal processes. Consequently, the exchange bias field and the coercivity will show a jump phenomenon. The numerical calculations indicate that both the magnitude and direction of the exchange anisotropy will significantly affect the angular dependence of exchange bias. The jump phenomenon of exchange bias is an intrinsic property of the bilayer, which is dependent on the interfacial exchange-coupling constant, the orientation of the exchange anisotropy, the thickness and uniaxial anisotropy constant of the ferromagnetic layer.     

Phase diagram of the ground state of a classical anisotropic frustrated ferromagnet

The phase diagram of the ground state is obtained for the one-dimensional easy-axis model of classical spins coupled by ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic exchanges between nearest and next-nearest neighbors, respectively. The parameters of the incommensurate magnetic structure with a variable step (soliton lattice) are calculated in the mean field approximation from the condition of the collinearity of spins to the effective exchange fields in the continuous approximation. The ground state of the soliton lattice and interfaces between soliton and collinear (ferromagnetic and “up–up–down–down”) phases are determined by the numerical minimization of the average energy over the initial angular velocity of spins.     

Spatial inhomogeneity of the interaction between bistable ferromagnetic wires

An experimental study and a theoretical calculation are presented of the hysteresis loop of two bistable ferromagnetic wires. A new effect—an asymmetry of the shift of the switching field at the first and the second Barkhausen jump—is found experimentally. The effect is explained as a consequence of the spatial dependence of the stray field. It is also reproduced within our recent calculation of the stray field from the magnetisation profile. Theoretical results qualitatively agree with the experimental data.     

Optical switching of semiconductor laser amplifiers

The underlying physics of optical switching in bistable diode-laser amplifiers is reviewed. The importance of minimizing the switching energy of optical bistable devices is emphasized. It is shown that conventional diode-laser amplifiers are switched with only thousands of photons in less than a nanosecond. Recent developments in single quantumwell lasers allow switching with total energy (including electronic) less than a picojoule.     

Soliton switching study using new normalized nonlinear Schrödinger equations

Soliton switching in a nonlinear directional coupler (NLDC) is studied by using new normalized nonlinear Schrödinger equations (NLSE). The resulted equations have one parameter κL_D only, this feature greatly simplifies the numerical study of soliton coupling in a NLDC, and it enables us to derive the soliton switching conditions based on numerical analysis. Numerical results show that most of the input soliton energy remains in the launched waveguide when input soliton normalized peak power is bigger than 2.5. It is contrary to the existing theoretical expectations which were derived using variational approach. The fundamental soliton switching conditions is also expressed in terms of input soliton pulse width. In addition, it is found that frequency chirp degrades soliton switching performance in a NLDC.     

外应力对铁磁/反铁磁体系交换偏置的影响及阶跃现象

采用能量极小原理及S-W模型研究了外应力对铁磁/反铁磁（FM/AFM）双层薄膜体系交换偏置的影响.不施加外磁场时,根据能量与铁磁层磁化强度方向之间的关系,指出体系存在单稳态和双稳态两种不同的状态,是由交换各向异性与单轴各向异性之间的竞争控制的.体系处于单稳态还是双稳态直接决定着交换偏置的角度依赖关系.分析磁化过程发现,外磁场沿内禀易轴及内禀难轴方向施加时,磁滞回线的一支转换场发生突变,而另一支转换场则保持不变,最终导致交换偏置场和矫顽场出现阶跃行为.数值计算表明,交换偏置场和矫顽场在阶跃点均具有较大的数值 关键词： 单稳态 双稳态 外应力     

Dynamics of bound vector solitons induced by stochastic perturbations: Soliton breakup and soliton switching

We respectively investigate breakup and switching of the Manakov-typed bound vector solitons (BVSs) induced by two types of stochastic perturbations: the homogenous and nonhomogenous. Symmetry-recovering is discovered for the asymmetrical homogenous case, while soliton switching is found to relate with the perturbation amplitude and soliton coherence. Simulations show that soliton switching in the circularly-polarized light system is much weaker than that in the Manakov and linearly-polarized systems. In addition, the homogenous perturbations can enhance the soliton switching in both of the Manakov and non-integrable (linearly- and circularly-polarized) systems. Our results might be helpful in interpreting dynamics of the BVSs with stochastic noises in nonlinear optics or with stochastic quantum fluctuations in Bose–Einstein condensates.     

Director deformation in a nematic liquid crystal with a ferromagnetic nanoparticle suspension

In view of the recent interest regarding nematic liquid crystals with a nanoparticle suspension, we investigate the director dynamics of a nematic matrix in the perspective of a soliton framework. The nematic liquid crystal is dispersed with ferromagnetic nanoparticles in order to enhance the director activity associated with the improved magnetization of the ferronematic matrix. The free energy density of the nematic matrix is deduced to be the Ginzburg–Landau (GL) equation for the director reorientation. We obtain a series of localized solutions for the GL equation, and also the dynamics is expressed in terms of the soliton evolution for the director by using the standard Hirota bilinearization procedure.     

Dark soliton switching in an NLDC in the presence of higher-order perturbative effects

Dark soliton switching in a nonlinear directional coupler in the presence of intermodal dispersion, cross-phase modulation (CPM), third-order dispersion, Raman effect, and self-steepening effect is reported for the first time. It is shown that, with the exception of CPM, all of the other perturbative effects have almost no effect on the switching characteristics of the dark soliton switch, which is an improvement over the corresponding bright soliton switch. Although the CPM increases the critical power of dark soliton switching, the soliton pulse remains stable inside the coupler during its propagation.     

Phase-induced switching in fiber nonlinear directional coupler

A numerical study of soliton switching characteristics and the maximum output coupling by the relative phase change of a control pulse is carried out for input powers, coupled coefficient and input soliton width. It is shown that input powers ratio, coupled coefficient and input soliton width play important roles in this mode of soliton switching and that these effects may lead to useful soliton switching if the relative phase of the control pulse is monitored judiciously.     

Instantons and solitons in a monolayer film of ferromagnetic grains with biaxial anisotropy

We investigate domain wall and domain structure in a monolyer film consisting of ferromagnetic grains with biaxial anisotropy, which are seen to be the static versions of instanton and soliton, respectively. The equation of motion of the magnetization vector is reduced to the (1 + 2)-dimensional sine-Gordon field equation in strong anisotropy limit and the instanton and soliton configurations are obtained analytically. Various new domain structures in the ferromagnetic film are found.     

Compton散射下多信道平面光波导的空间光孤子开关

应用量子微扰理论和多光子非线性Compton散射模型,对Compton散射下多信道平面光波导的空间光孤子开关进行了研究.结果表明:在横向具有正弦形周期折射率调制的非线性平面光波导的多信道系统中,原先束缚在一个信道中的孤子可以靠由入射和散射光形成的耦合控制光点,通过交叉相位调制横向吸引孤子波束,使孤子从原信道切换到邻近信道,从而实现光孤子开关的功能.控制光点可由耦合光在势谷之间的横向聚焦来实现.散射既能使控制光点的有效强度的阈值和孤子的辐射损耗增大,势垒增高,幅度下降较小,有利于孤子开关的形成;又能使波束展宽较宽,并存在开关被破坏的危险.由此可见,Compton散射下恰当控制入射激光强度是实现孤子开关的关键.     

Properties of Controllable Soliton Switching in Optical Lattices with Longitudinal Exponential-Asymptotic Modulation

The properties of controllable soliton switching in Kerr-type optical lattices with different modulation are investigated theoretically and simulated numerically. The results show that the optical lattices can be available for all-optical soliton switching through utilization for length-scale competition effects. And through longitudinal exponential-asymptotic modulation for the linear refractive index, the properties of soliton switching in the optical lattices can be improved. The number of output channels of soliton switching can be controlled by the parameters such as incident angle, asymptotic rate of longitudinal modulation, guiding parameter and form factor.     

Efficient magnetization reversal with noisy currents

We propose to accelerate reversal of the ferromagnetic order parameter in spin valves by electronic noise. By solving the stochastic equations of motion we show that the current-induced magnetization switching time is drastically reduced by a modest level of externally generated current (voltage) noise. This also leads to a significantly lower power consumption for the switching process.