Generation of stable bright pulse and the dark soliton interaction in nonlinear left-handed materials

In homogeneous and isotropic nonlinear left-handed materials (LHMs), using the split step Fourier transform method, we demonstrate that two dark electromagnetic solitons which are the solutions of coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations (CNLS) move along a line toward each other, when the distance between them down to a certain value, the interaction of the two dark solitons can produce a stable bright electromagnetic pulse that behaves like a bright soliton. Although our mathematical analysis shows that the new generated stable bright pulse is not an exact solution of the CNLS, it can propagate steadily in the nonlinear LHMs. And this unusual phenomenon can also be observed in our numerical simulation results by another method.     

Generation of quadratic spatial dark soliton in periodically poled lithium niobate

In this paper, we report the evolution of quadratic spatial dark soliton in periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN). The generation of solitons pairs by wavefront modulation methods is investigated in both numerical simulations and experiments. We found that quadratic dark spatial solitons have analogue performances compared with that in χ⁽³⁾ defocusing Kerr media.     

Modulational instability in periodic quadratic nonlinear materials

We investigate the modulational instability of plane waves in quadratic nonlinear materials with linear and nonlinear quasi-phase-matching gratings. Exact Floquet calculations, confirmed by numerical simulations, show that the periodicity can drastically alter the gain spectrum but never completely removes the instability. The low-frequency part of the gain spectrum is accurately predicted by an averaged theory and disappears for certain gratings. The high-frequency part is related to the inherent gain of the homogeneous non-phase-matched material and is a consistent spectral feature.     

Efficiency of quadratic soliton generation

We report what is believed to be the first experimental demonstration of soliton content as a function of the intensity of input light for multicolor quadratic solitons. Experiments were conducted with spatial solitons excited with Gaussian beams in a bulk crystal cut for second-harmonic generation. The effects introduced by the finite crystal length and by the scheme employed to elucidate the soliton energy are highlighted.     

Multipolar engineering of molecules and materials for quadratic nonlinear optics

The first generation of molecular engineering studies whereby a one-dimensional bipolar donor–acceptor conjugated system had served, since the early 1970s, as a quasi-exclusive template, had failed to take into account the tensorial dimension attached to the β quadratic hyperpolarizability tensor. We review here the outgoing second generation of molecular design studies based on three-dimensional multipolar charge transfer which reflects on enhanced values for all β_ijk coefficients, then opening-up the possibility of polarization-independent nonlinear interactions. This can be ensured by more isotropic crystalline lattices or statistical polymer-based orientational distribution out of reach for the cruder one-dimensional systems. A particular challenge which has in fact triggered this domain in the early 1990s to this day has been set by octupolar systems whereby the symmetry-imposed cancellation of the dipole moment precludes the utilization of an electric field coupling scheme to orient molecules into a noncentrosymmetric order. We will review this new domain, encompassing both physical and chemical considerations, all the way from new molecular engineering techniques, with associated quantum modeling, to advanced characterization methods and macroscopic ordering schemes jointly aiming at promoting and exploiting the so far largely ignored tensorial dimension of nonlinear light–matter coupling schemes in molecules. To cite this article: I. Ledoux, J. Zyss, C. R. Physique 3 (2002) 407–427.     

Birth of solitons in quadratic spatial soliton collisions

We demonstrate experimentally and theoretically the creation of a third soliton in two soliton collision processes in type I noncritically phase-matched KNbO3. The output pattern in the collision process is phase dependent, but the total energy and the relative ratio of the fundamental to the second harmonic in each soliton remain essentially unchanged to within experimental accuracy.     

Stability of non-degenerate parametric soliton in quadratic media

The non-degenerate solitons due to three-wave mixing in a quadratic medium are analyzed. A new stability criterion for these solitons is found and verified numerically. The influence of the non-paraxial terms on the instability threshold is also discussed.     

Frequency shifting with local nonlinearity management in nonuniformly poled quadratic nonlinear materials

We show theoretically that the frequency shifts that result from phase-mismatched cascaded processes under conditions of strong group-velocity mismatch can be significantly enhanced by local control of the nonlinearity with propagation. This control is possible with continuous variation of the poling period of quasi-phase-matched structures and can allow one to avoid saturation of the frequency shift. We theoretically demonstrate its applicability to high-quality, efficient frequency shifting of infrared pulses.     

Generation and weak beam control of two-dimensional multicolored arrays in a quadratic nonlinear medium

We report on the first experimental observation of 2D multicolored transverse arrays in a quadratic nonlinear medium under the pump of two crossly overlapped femtosecond beams. The 2D reproducible patterns are caused by cascaded noncollinear quadratic nonlinear couplings between the input pulses and quadratic spatial solitons originated from spatial breakup of one of the input beams with spatial ellipticity. A seed supercontinuum pulse is then diffracted and amplified with phase preservation, resulting in the formation of up-converted multicolor 2D transverse arrays. By seeding with weak second harmonic pulses, the 2D multicolored transverse patterns are suppressed due to weak beam control of the induced quadratic spatial solitons.     

Generation of surface soliton arrays

We discover that, at the edge of an optical lattice imprinted in a saturable nonlinear medium, one-dimensional surface solitons exist only within a band of light intensities and that they cease to exist when the lattice depth exceeds an upper threshold. We also reveal the generation of arrays of two-dimensional surface solitons mediated by the transverse modulational instability of one-dimensional solitons, a process that is found to exhibit specific features associated to properties of the optical lattice.     

Weak beam control of multiple quadratic soliton generation

Theoretical predictions and experimental observations show that a weak harmonic seed beam can control the process of generating multiple quadratic solitons in periodically poled KTiOPO4 by inputting only a fundamental beam. This all-optical switching does not depend on the relative phase of the input beams, an unusual property for such coherent solitons.     

Bloch oscillations of a soliton in a molecular chain

This paper presents the results of numerical experiments simulating Bloch oscillations of solitons in a deformable molecular chain subject to a constant electric field. By using as an example a homogeneous polynucleotide chain, it is shown that the system under consideration can exhibit complicated dynamical behaviour: when subject to field intensities less than a certain critical value, a soliton exhibits oscillations as a whole, while at field intensities exceeding this threshold, the soliton becomes a breather that oscillates. It is shown that the motion of a charge in a deformable chain is infinite, which in contrast to that in a rigid chain.     

Damping of internal soliton modes in media with quadratic nonlinearity

Optical solitons in media with quadratic nonlinearity and frequency dispersion are theoretically analyzed. Internal soliton modes and the rate of their radiative damping as a function of detuning from the phase-matching condition and the nonlinear shift of phase velocity for different soliton dimensions (d=1, 2, 3) are found. The length of a nonlinear medium required to form a stationary soliton is determined.     

Multiple soliton bound states and symmetry breaking in quadratic media

We present a study of the dynamics of multiple soliton bound states in diffractive media with second-order nonlinearity. A numerical stability analysis of these bound states reveals that wave propagation in quadratic materials exhibits spatial symmetry-breaking instabilities.     

On soliton interaction in cubic nonlinear media

Using the method of the inverse problem, we consider soliton interaction in a nonlinear cubic medium. We present an example of initial conditions under which the nonlinear Schrödinger equation, which describes soliton interaction, has an exact solution.     

Rotating soliton clusters in nonlocal nonlinear media

From the study of the dynamics for the ring-like soliton clusters, we find that there exists a critical value of the ring radius, dcr, for the stationary rotation of the clusters with respect to the beam centre even in the presence of the relatively strong noise, and that the soliton clusters will not rotate but only undergo periodic collisions in the form of simple harmonic oscillator if the ring radius is large enough. We also show that the direction of the rotation can be opposite to the direction of phase gradient when the relative phase difference is within the domain 0 〈 ｜θ｜ 〈 π, while along the direction of phase gradient when the relative phase difference is within the domain π 〈｜θ｜ 〈 2π     

Disorder-induced soliton transmission in nonlinear photonic lattices

We address soliton transmission and reflection in nonlinear photonic lattices embedded into uniform Kerr nonlinear media. We show that by introducing disorder into the guiding lattice channels, one may achieve soliton transmission even under conditions where regular lattices reflect the input beam completely. In contrast, in the parameter range in which the lattice is almost transparent for incoming solitons, disorder may induce a significant reflection.     

Incoherent soliton turbulence in nonlocal nonlinear media

The long-term behavior of a modulationally unstable nonintegrable system is known to be characterized by the soliton turbulence self-organization process: It is thermodynamically advantageous for the system to generate a large-scale coherent soliton in order to reach the ("most disordered") equilibrium state. We show that this universal process of self-organization breaks down in the presence of a highly nonlocal nonlinear response. A wave turbulence approach based on a Vlasov-like kinetic equation reveals the existence of an incoherent soliton turbulence process: It is advantageous for the system to self-organize into a large-scale, spatially localized, incoherent soliton structure.     

Generation of dark-bright soliton trains in superfluid-superfluid counterflow

The dynamics of two penetrating superfluids exhibit an intriguing variety of nonlinear effects. Using two distinguishable components of a Bose-Einstein condensate, we investigate the counterflow of two superfluids in a narrow channel. We present the first experimental observation of trains of dark-bright solitons generated by the counterflow. Our observations are theoretically interpreted by three-dimensional numerical simulations for the coupled Gross-Pitaevskii equations and the analysis of a jump in the two relatively flowing components' densities. Counterflow-induced modulational instability for this miscible system is identified as the central process in the dynamics.