Autosoliton transmission in dispersion-managed systems guided by in-line nonlinear optical loop mirrors

We examine the feasibility of optical pulse transmission in dispersion-managed fiber systems with in-line nonlinear optical loop mirrors. Applying numerical analysis, we find regimes of stable propagation over long distances in such lines, with a significant increase in the signal-to-noise ratio.     

Self-switching of optical pulses in dispersion-imbalanced nonlinear loop mirrors

We report a novel nonlinear filter that transmits and shortens incident pulses while rejecting cw background as well as resonant continuum. A relative extinction of 22dB is reported for the cw background.     

Quasi-soliton propagation in dispersion-managed optical fibers

Combination of programmed chirp and dispersion profiles produced a solitonlike nonlinear pulse with a stationary structure (quasi-soliton). The quasi-soliton has more attractive properties than those of a soliton because of its reduced interaction and smaller peak power than a soliton and allows ~100-Gbit / s transmission over a 125-dispersion distance with reasonable power.     

Analytical design of nonlinear optical loop mirrors for fiber-optic communication systems

We propose an easy and efficient method for analytically designing nonlinear optical loop mirrors (NOLMs) for fiber-optic communication systems. This analytical design is based on a Taylor series expansion of the transfer function of the NOLM, from which highly stable dynamical regimes can be readily obtained for any desired pulse parameters. We present numerical simulations showing dramatically improved performances in a 160 Gb/s transmission system that incorporates the NOLMs designed analytically.     

Suppression of nonlinear effects by phase alternation in strongly dispersion-managed optical transmission

The nonlinear effects of amplitude jitter and ghost pulse generation, which are present in strongly dispersion-managed optical communication systems can be suppressed by alternation of the phase of the bits. A physical explanation for this effect is given that shows that with suitably chosen phase modulations the processes that give rise to the nonlinear effects will counteract each other.     

Experimental observation of Fermi-Pasta-Ulam recurrence in a nonlinear feedback ring system

Fermi-Pasta-Ulam recurrence through soliton dynamics has been realized. The experiment used a magnetic film strip-based active feedback ring. At some ring gain level, a wide spin wave pulse is self-generated in the ring. As the pulse circulates, it separates into two envelop solitons with different speeds. When the fast soliton catches up and collides with the slow soliton, the initial wide pulse is perfectly reconstructed. The repetition of this process leads to periodic recurrences of the initial pulse.     

Pulse propagation through a nonlinear optical amplifier

We report an investigation of pulse propagation through a recently proposed nonlinear amplifier composed of asymmetrical twin-core fibre. While the pulse is amplified and the associated noise is suppressed, we find that the pulse is strongly chirped. While the chirp in the centre of the pulse can be easily eliminated by inserting a short piece of dispersive fibre right after the amplifier, the chirp in the wings may remain and lead to the eventual destruction of the pulse. This residual chirp can be removed through a damped and radiative oscillation by judicious adjustment of the parameters of the amplifier and the dispersive fibre. Finally, we consider the effect of noise in the pulse. We discovered a threshold of the noise amplitude below which the noise is suppressed (which must be a characteristic asset of the nonlinear amplifier). Above the threshold, the noise tends to shift the centre of the pulse.     

Short optical pulse profile characterization using a nonlinear optical loop mirror

We propose in this work a technique for short pulse profile retrieval based on the Kerr effect in a fiber nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM). Under some assumptions, the profile can be determined from the energy transfer characteristic of the pulses through the NOLM, which can be measured with a low-frequency detection setup. Two numerical approaches are considered, both relying on the resolution of a system of nonlinear algebraic equations, and which differ in the way that the profiles are discretized. We show numerically that both approaches allow proper profile retrieval for a wide variety of pulse shapes. The two techniques are compared, and their advantages and drawbacks are discussed. The effect of the amplitude noise of the pulses is assessed, as well as the impact of an inaccurate knowledge of the NOLM transfer function, or of the energy transfer characteristic. The technique is demonstrated in the frame of the characterization of both ns and ps pulses.     

Soliton squeezing in a highly transmissive nonlinear optical loop mirror

A perturbation approach is used to study the quantum noise of optical solitons in an asymmetric fiber Sagnac interferometer (a highly transmissive nonlinear optical loop mirror). Analytical expressions for the three second-order quadrature correlators are derived and used to predict the amount of detectable amplitude squeezing along with the optimum power-splitting ratio of the Sagnac interferometer. We find that it is the number-phase correlation owing to the Kerr nonlinearity that is primarily responsible for the observable noise reduction. The group-velocity dispersion affecting the field in the nonsoliton arm of the fiber interferometer is shown to limit the minimum achievable Fano factor.     

Calculation of nonlinear waves guided by optical fibers with an inhomogeneous nonlinear core

A circular optical fiber consisting of an inhomogeneous nonlinear core bounded by a linear cladding medium is considered here. In this case, the calculation of the nonlinear modes is of practical importance because of the joint effects of nonlinearity and inhomogeneity on the field concentration and the achievable optical confinement. Numerical results indicate that the combination of this type of inhomogeneity along with the characteristics of nonlinearity may play a significant role towards the optical confinement in the core.     

Cascade compression induced by nonlinear barriers in propagation of optical solitons

We investigate the nonlinear tunneling of optical solitons through both dispersion and nonlinear barriers by employing the exact solution of the generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation with variable coefficients. The extensive numerical simulations show that the optical solitons can be efficiently compressed when they pass through adequate engineered nonlinear barriers. A cascade compression system in a dispersion decreasing fiber with nonlinear barriers on an exponential background is proposed and the cascade compression of optical pulses is further investigated in detail. Finally, the stability to various initial perturbations of the cascade compressed optical soliton and the interaction between two neighboring compressed solitons were investigated too.     

圆管结构中周向导波非线性效应的模式展开分析

在二阶微扰近似条件下, 采用导波模式展开分析方法研究了圆管结构中周向导波的非线性效应. 伴随基频周向导波传播所发生的二次谐波, 可视为由一系列二倍频周向导波模式叠加而成. 从动量定理出发, 结合柱坐标系下非线性应力张量及其散度的数学表达式, 针对圆管中某一基频周向导波模式, 推导出相应的二倍频应力张量及二倍频彻体驱动力的数学表达式, 建立了确定二倍频周向导波模式展开系数的控制方程, 得到了伴随基频周向导波传播所发生的二次谐波声场的形式解. 理论分析和数值计算表明, 当构成二次谐波声场的某一二倍频周向导波模式与基频周向导波的相速度匹配时, 该二倍频周向导波模式的位移振幅表现出随传播周向角积累增长的性质; 当两者的相速度失配时, 二倍频周向导波的振幅随传播周向角表现出“拍”效应.     

Nonlinearity management in a dispersion-managed system

We propose using a nonlinear phase-shift interferometric converter (NPSIC), a new device, for lumped compensation for nonlinearity in optical fibers. The NPSIC is a nonlinear analog of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer and provides a way to control the sign of the nonlinear phase shift. We investigate a potential use of the NPSIC for compensation for nonlinearity to develop a dispersion-managed system that is closer to an ideal linear system. More importantly, the NPSIC can be used to essentially improve single-channel capacity in the nonlinear regime.     

Chirped nonlinear pulse propagation in a dispersion-compensated system

We study nonlinear pulse propagation in an optical transmission system with dispersion compensation. A chirped nonlinear pulse can propagate in such a system, but eventually it decays into dispersive waves in a way similar to the tunneling effect in quantum mechanics. The pulse consists of a quadratic potential that is due to chirp in addition to the usual self-trapping potential and is responsible for the power enhancement and the decay.     

Study of ultra-fast optical pulse propagation in a nonlinear directional coupler

We showed that the application of a soliton in a nonlinear coupler does not show a better switching performance than a Gaussian pulse, unlike what the existing theory expected. Like the Gaussian pulse, a soliton could also suffer distortion, broadening, or narrowing in a nonlinear directional coupler. In addition, by using a new normalized format the linearly coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations were investigated. For the first time, we found that both the coupling behavior and the switching performance of pulses in a nonlinear coupler depend on the product of the coupling coefficient and the dispersion length. We also showed that for a given nonlinear coupler with a Gaussian-like or soliton-like pulse input, switching performance and whether a pulse breaks up or not mainly depend on the input pulse width, not the pulse shape. PACS 42.65.Tg; 42.65.Wi; 42.81.Qb     

Multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber laser employing a nonlinear optical loop mirror

A stable and broad bandwidth multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber laser is proposed and demonstrated successfully. A nonlinear optical loop mirror which induces wavelength-dependent cavity loss and behaves as an amplitude equalizer is employed to ensure stable room-temperature multiwavelength operation. Up to 50 wavelengths lasing oscillations with wavelength spacing of 0.8 nm within a 3-dB spectral range of 1562-1605 nm has been achieved. The measured power fluctuation of each wavelength is about 0.1 dB within a 2-h period.     

Chirped optical pulse propagation in saturating nonlinear media

Using a variational method, we have investigated the propagation characteristics of a chirped optical pulse in anomalously dispersive media possessing saturating nonlinearity. For the special case of uniform loss less media, the dynamics of the temporal width of the pulse is shown to be equivalent to an oscillator of unit mass which is executing its motion under some effective potential well. The potential is examined and four different types of behavior of the pulse width are noticed. The role of saturation parameter and the initial chirp in determining the propagation characteristics have been examined. It is found that, both high value of chirp and saturation are detrimental to stable pulse propagation. Particularly, the effect of chirp becomes severe with the increase in the value of saturation. We have shown that incorporation of saturation in the nonlinearity leads to the existence of bistable soliton. For the case of a lossy medium, net broadening of width takes place over many cycles of oscillation. The net broadening decreases with the increase in the value of saturation.     

Spatio-temporal pulse propagation in nonlinear dispersive optical media

We discuss state-of-art approaches to modeling of propagation of ultrashort optical pulses in one and three spatial dimensions. We operate with the analytic signal formulation for the electric field rather than using the slowly varying envelope approximation, because the latter becomes questionable for few-cycle pulses. Suitable propagation models are naturally derived in terms of unidirectional approximation.     

Experimental observation of optical rotation generated in vacuum by a magnetic field

We report the experimental observation of a light polarization rotation in vacuum in the presence of a transverse magnetic field. Assuming that data distribution is Gaussian, the average measured rotation is (3.9 +/- 0.5) x 10(-12) rad/pass, at 5 T with 44 000 passes through a 1 m long magnet, with lambda = 1064 nm. The relevance of this result in terms of the existence of a light, neutral, spin-zero particle is discussed.     

On the velocity of propagation of a signal in nonlinear optical media

The maximum velocity of propagation of a signal, which is defined as the velocity of propagation of the wave front, is considered for electromagnetic waves in nonlinear media. It is shown that the magnitude of velocity is determined to a considerable extent on the form of the constitutive equation defining the relation between the polarization of the medium with the radiation field strength. In the noninertial nonlinearity model, this velocity may be smaller (in media with self-focusing nonlinearity) or larger (defocusing nonlinearity) than the velocity of light in vacuum. For real nonlinear media, for which the inertia of their response is taken into account, the wave front velocity coincides with the velocity of light in vacuum.