Stable helical solitons in optical media

We present a review of new results which suggest the existence of fully stable spinning solitons (self-supporting localised objects with an internal vorticity) in optical fibres with self-focusing Kerr (cubic) nonlinearity, and in bulk media featuring a combination of the cubic self-defocusing and quadratic nonlinearities. Their distinctive difference from other optical solitons with an internal vorticity, which were recently studied in various optical media, theoretically and also experimentally, is that all the spinning solitons considered thus far have been found to be unstable against azimuthal perturbations. In the first part of the paper, we consider solitons in a nonlinear optical fibre in a region of parameters where the fibre carries exactly two distinct modes, viz., the fundamental one and the first-order helical mode. From the viewpoint of application to communication systems, this opens the way to doubling the number of channels carried by a fibre. Besides that, these solitons are objects of fundamental interest. To fully examine their stability, it is crucially important to consider collisions between them, and their collisions with fundamental solitons, in (ordinary or hollow) optical fibres. We introduce a system of coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations for the fundamental and helical modes with nonstandard values of the cross-phase-modulation coupling constants, and show, in analytical and numerical forms, results of collisions between solitons carried by the two modes. In the second part of the paper, we demonstrate that the interaction of the fundamental beam with its second harmonic in bulk media, in the presence of self-defocusing Kerr nonlinearity, gives rise to the first ever example of completely stable spatial ring-shaped solitons with intrinsic vorticity. The stability is demonstrated both by direct simulations and by analysis of linearized equations.     

Nonparaxial (1 + 1)D spatial solitons in uniaxial media

We investigate nonparaxial spatial solitons in uniaxial media with a cubic nonlinearity, accounting for the fully vectorial electromagnetic perturbation and the longitudinal field component in the self-induced index well. We discuss the effective nonlocality arising in purely Kerr media and soliton self-steering owing to nonlinear changes in walk-off.     

Self-guiding light in layered nonlinear media

We study the propagation of intense optical beams in layered Kerr media. With appropriate shapes, beams with a power close to the self-focusing threshold are shown to propagate over long distances as quasi-stationary waveguides in cubic media supporting a periodic nonlinear refractive index.     

Nonlinear phase shift and all-optical switching in quasi-phase-matched quadratic media

Recently it was shown that in quasi-phase-matched quadratic media the average intensities are subject to an induced Kerr effect. We analytically study the influence of this induced cubic nonlinearity on the amplitude and phase modulation of the fundamental wave and predict efficient all-optical switching.     

Efficiency and temporal response of crystalline Kerr media in collinear optical Kerr gating

Optical Kerr gating is widely used in ultrafast measurements ranging from pulse characterization to spectroscopy and microscopy. We examined the efficiency and the temporal response of three cubic lattice Kerr media, YAG, GGG and BGO, and compared them with the well studied fused silica (fast response, low efficiency) and STO (high efficiency, slow response). YAG and GGG emerged as superior materials for ultrafast spectroscopy and microscopy applications thanks to their fast Kerr response and considerably higher gating efficiency than silica at low gating energies. Importantly, it was found that in collinear geometry all tested materials except STO are capable of reaching nearly 100% transmission.     

Optical solitons for non-Kerr law nonlinear Schrödinger equation with third and fourth order dispersions

In this paper, we obtain optical soliton solutions for non-Kerr law nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE) with third order (3OD) and fourth order dispersions (4OD). We will use two integration schemes, namely sin-cosine method and Bernoulli’s equation approach with five laws of nonlinearities. Sine-cosine method is applicable to Kerr, power and anti-cubic laws, this method provides bright soliton solutions. The second method is applicable to parabolic and cubic quintic laws, this method generates dark soliton. The results may be used in discussing the propagation of optical solitons in highly dispersive media with Kerr, power, anti-cubic, parabolic and cubic quintic law nonlinearities.     

Rotating vortex solitons supported by localized gain

We show that ringlike localized gain landscapes imprinted in focusing cubic (Kerr) nonlinear media with strong two-photon absorption support new types of stable higher-order vortex solitons containing multiple phase singularities nested inside a single core. The phase singularities are found to rotate around the center of the gain landscape, with the rotation period being determined by the strength of the gain and the nonlinear absorption.     

Partial compensation of Kerr nonlinearities by optical phase conjugation in optical fiber transmission systems without power symmetry

We investigate the suppression of Kerr nonlinearities by optical phase conjugation (OPC) in a fiber transmission system without power symmetry by including all the manifestations of the Kerr nonlinearities. We found that OPC cannot completely compensate for all Kerr nonlinearities in absence of power symmetry, and some nonlinearities may become even worse if one of the nonlinearities is fully compensated. Therefore, it is necessary to optimize the compensation system to eliminate the most dominating nonlinearity. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the interplay of various kinds of nonlinearities. The need of proper design for transmission systems to suppress the dominating nonlinear effect is shown when all manifestations of Kerr nonlinearity are not compensated simultaneously.     

Nonlinearity management in optics: experiment, theory, and simulation

We conduct an experimental investigation of nonlinearity management in optics using femtosecond pulses and layered Kerr media consisting of glass and air. By examining the propagation properties over several diffraction lengths, we show that wave collapse can be prevented. We corroborate these experimental results with numerical simulations of the (2+1)-dimensional focusing cubic nonlinear Schr?dinger equation with piecewise constant coefficients and a theoretical analysis of this setting using a moment method.     

非局域克尔介质中空间光孤子的相互作用

研究了强非局域克尔介质中光束的演化规律，通过相位分析得到了空间孤子相互作用所满足 的非局域非线性薛定谔方程的简化近似模型，并获得了双光束传输的解析解.结果表明在传 输过程中相互作用的高斯光束的相位决定于它们的输入总功率.以振幅一强一弱共同传输的 高斯光束为例进行了具体研究，得到了强光和弱光的解析式，相位分析显示弱光在相当短的 传输距离之内能产生大的相移，可以通过对强光能量的调控来实现对弱光的相位调制. 关键词： 非局域克尔介质 空间光孤子 孤子相互作用 相位调制     

Frequency characteristics of the dark and bright surface solitons at a nonlinear metamaterial interface

We investigate the generation and properties of dark and bright surface waves at the interface of a conventional medium and a metamaterial. It is shown that the stable dark and bright surface solitons can coexist even when the nonlinear Kerr coefficients of the two media are negative, completely different from those at the interface between two conventional media. Most importantly, both the dark and bright surface solitons exist only within a certain range of the effective refractive index of the metamaterial, greatly depending on the frequency of the electromagnetic wave propagating in it. Therefore, the generation conditions for surface solitons, and the properties of the generated surface solitons such as the peak positions and the intensity of the dark and bright surface solitons, can be controlled by adjusting the structure parameters of the metamaterial and/or the frequency of the electromagnetic wave.     

Theoretical analysis of hot-image effect in a high-power laser system with cascaded nonlinear medium

We present a universally applicable and quick method to forecast the intensity and location of the hot-image effects in a high-power laser system structured by cascaded Kerr medium plates. The analytical expressions for the locations and the peak intensity of the hot-images are deduced by using propagation matrix method. The results are useful for laser designers to estimate and minimize the threat of optical damage. Theoretical analysis demonstrates that a maximum of N hot-images may appear in a laser system structured by N cascaded Kerr medium plates and the distance between two adjacent hot-images is two times the interval between two adjacent Kerr medium plates. The number and locations of the hot-images are related with the number of the Kerr medium plates, the distance from the scatterer to the front of the first Kerr medium plate, and the interval between two adjacent Kerr medium plates. The peak intensity of the hot-images depends on the number of the Kerr medium plates, the B-integral of each Kerr medium plate, the amplitude and phase modulation coefficients of the scatterer and the peak intensity of the input beam. The hot-image effects in a laser system with cascaded Kerr medium plates from two to eight are discussed in detail and numerically analyzed. Numerical simulation results are in agreement with the theoretical results.     

Optical bistability and differential amplification in a tapered fiber coupler — microsphere resonator with nonlinear medium

We propose and study a coupling system composed of the tapered fiber and the microsphere with nonlinear medium. The optical bistability and differential amplification caused by optical Kerr effect is demonstrated using a geometrical method. We show that their operation characteristics can be controlled by parameters: linear phase detuning, attenuation coefficient and real amplitude coupling coefficient.     

基于光克尔门空间扫描单次激光信噪比测量

提出一种基于光克尔门空间扫描的单次激光信噪比测量方法.在该方法中,门光和探测光在光克尔介质中正交传输,通过光克尔门对探测光的空间扫描实现激光信噪比测量.采用该测量方法进行了单次激光信噪比测量的实验研究,测得时间窗口和分辨率分别为88.2ps、2.7ps.由于取样门是由光克尔效应来控制,因此该激光信噪比测量方法对于待测激光的波长没有限制.     

自聚焦克尔类电介质中非傍轴光束调制非稳的研究

将非傍轴效应等效为四阶空间色散、五阶非线性效应和自陡峭效应加以处理.利用线性稳定法研究非傍轴光束在非线性克尔介质中的传播稳定性.理论分析和数值模拟均表明，入射功率p₀和非傍轴参量a决定非傍轴光束调制非稳增益谱呈现出三种不同的分布规律，并给出相应判据以区分三种不同分布. 关键词： 非傍轴光束 调制非稳 增益谱 克尔介质     

Two-dimensional matter-wave solitons and vortices in competing cubic-quintic nonlinear lattices

The nonlinear lattice — a new and nonlinear class of periodic potentials — was recently introduced to generate various nonlinear localized modes. Several attempts failed to stabilize two-dimensional (2D) solitons against their intrinsic critical collapse in Kerr media. Here, we provide a possibility for supporting 2D matter-wave solitons and vortices in an extended setting — the cubic and quintic model — by introducing another nonlinear lattice whose period is controllable and can be different from its cubic counterpart, to its quintic nonlinearity, therefore making a fully “nonlinear quasi-crystal”.A variational approximation based on Gaussian ansatz is developed for the fundamental solitons and in particular, their stability exactly follows the inverted Vakhitov–Kolokolov stability criterion, whereas the vortex solitons are only studied by means of numerical methods. Stability regions for two types of localized mode — the fundamental and vortex solitons — are provided. A noteworthy feature of the localized solutions is that the vortex solitons are stable only when the period of the quintic nonlinear lattice is the same as the cubic one or when the quintic nonlinearity is constant, while the stable fundamental solitons can be created under looser conditions. Our physical setting (cubic-quintic model) is in the framework of the Gross–Pitaevskii equation or nonlinear Schrödinger equation, the predicted localized modes thus may be implemented in Bose–Einstein condensates and nonlinear optical media with tunable cubic and quintic nonlinearities.     

聚苯胺/NMP溶液的激光诱导自衍射

实验观察到526um基模高斯先来通过聚苯按/N-甲基-2-吮咯烷酮(NMP)溶液时,在这场处产生了多个同心衍射圆环。该现象可以用高斯光束通过非线性介质时产生的空间自相位调制来解释。理论分析表明,对于薄样品,光束横截面上产生的非线性附加相移近似于高斯分布。通过测量衍射环个数,可以估算出聚苯胺/NMP溶液(对526um的吸收系数为0.56cm^-1)的克尔常数γ≈4.4x10^-10m²/W.     

Enhanced Kerr Nonlinearities Caused by Cross Talk Between Optical and Microwave Transitions

We investigate the enhanced Kerr nonlinearities in four-level atomic vapors driven by a coupling, probe and microwave fields. Under the optical one-photon and two-photon resonant conditions, the linear and nonlinear responses of the weak probe field can be modified by the cross talk among optical and microwave transitions. The enhanced Kerr nonlinearity can form bright optical solitons of the probe field.     

克尔介质中瞬态热光非线性效应的作用

研究了介质中瞬态热光非线性效应对于克尔效应Z扫描测量结果的影响，观察到了Z扫描峰谷特性的转变，相应的数值模拟结果与实验结果很好地吻合.实验也发现，克尔效应和瞬态热光非线性效应相互抵消时Z扫描曲线呈现出新奇的单峰或平台状曲线.对于用纳秒脉冲激光进行的Z扫描测量结果的正确分析具有重要意义. 关键词： 瞬态热光非线性效应 克尔效应 Z扫描