Incoherent blocker soliton interactions in Kerr waveguide arrays

We have observed the incoherent interaction between a highly confined (blocker) soliton and wide, moving signal beams of a different wavelength in a one-dimensional discrete Kerr medium. Digital switching of the blocker solitons to successive adjacent channels was measured with increasing signal power via both one and two cascaded interactions in an AlGaAs waveguide array, operations equivalent to a reconfigurable three-output router.     

Discrete vector solitons in Kerr nonlinear waveguide arrays

We report the first experimental observation of discrete vector solitons in AlGaAs nonlinear waveguide arrays. These self-trapped states are possible through the coexistence of two orthogonally polarized fields and are stable in spite of the presence of four-wave mixing effects. We demonstrate that at sufficiently high power levels the two polarizations lock into a highly localized vector discrete soliton that would have been otherwise impossible in the absence of either one of these two components.     

Spatial solitons in optofluidic waveguide arrays with focusing ultrafast Kerr nonlinearity

We present an optofluidic nonlinear waveguide array that is fabricated by selectively filling several strands of a photonic crystal fiber with the liquid CCl(4), which exhibits a large focusing ultrafast Kerr nonlinearity. We demonstrate a power dependent formation of a spatial soliton in this novel optofluidic device. The large thermo-optical effect of liquids enables us to control the characteristics of the spatial soliton formation in these nonlinear structures. This opens the road toward flexible designs and the realization of a new class of optofluidic devices with complex nonlinear landscapes and novel effects.     

Vibrational quantum interference in Raman-induced Kerr effect: momentum conservation

The pump–probe Raman-induced optical Kerr effect (RIKE) of simple molecular liquids, studied with femtosecond laser pulses, exhibit long lasting beats ascribable to vibrational quantum interference (QI). While energy conservation entails vibrational resonances in RIKE, momentum conservation boils down to wave vector-matching in the pump and probe processes, which calls for the participation of a vibrational excitation wave. The refractive index dispersion around vibrational resonances is intimately related to the focusing angle of the pump (also probe) beam. The larger the focusing angle, the greater the excitation wave number, i.e. the more energetic the vibration in resonance; if the focusing angle is too small, energetic vibrations cannot be observed in vibrational QI, even if energy conservation is fulfilled. If the pump and probe beams are perfectly collimated, then all beams must be collinear in order to conserve momentum.     

Modulational instability in one-dimensional saturable waveguide arrays: Comparison with Kerr nonlinearity

Discrete modulational instability within the first band of uniform one-dimensional waveguide arrays possessing a saturable self-defocusing nonlinearity is investigated in detail within the coupled mode approach. Explicit analytical results for both the threshold and the maximal gain of instability are compared with the corresponding data from waveguide arrays exhibiting Kerr nonlinearity. We find that saturation bounds the interval of existence of discrete modulational instability, stabilizes the frequency region of perturbations around ±π/2 and decreases both gain and critical spatial frequency of perturbations.     

Observation of dynamic localization in periodically curved waveguide arrays

We report on a direct experimental observation of dynamic localization (DL) of light in sinusoidally-curved lithium-niobate waveguide arrays which provides the optical analog of DL for electrons in periodic potentials subjected to ac electric fields as originally proposed by Dunlap and Kenkre [Phys. Rev. B 34, 3625 (1986)10.1103/PhysRevB.34.3625]. The theoretical condition for DL in a sinusoidal field is experimentally demonstrated.     

CH4分子ν1模拉曼诱导克尔效应谱与受激拉曼光声光谱峰形的比较

以气相甲烷分子ν₁模Q支的拉曼光谱为例，采用拉曼诱导克尔效应谱(RIKES)进行峰形测量，并将其与同时测量的受激拉曼光声光谱(PARS)的峰形进行了比较.结果表明，在pump光和Stokes光均为线偏振的情况下，两者存在着差异；在拉曼共振峰的低频端，RIKES谱强度略高；而高频端则恰好相反.从信号产生机制出发，对此进行了合理解释. 关键词： 拉曼诱导克尔效应谱 受激拉曼光声光谱 峰形     

Gap solitons in waveguide arrays

Bright and dark spatial gap solitons are demonstrated in waveguide arrays. These gap solitons travel across the array at zero transverse velocity, in complete analogy with stationary (immobile) temporal gap solitons. Furthermore, the launching configuration for observing these stationary gap solitons is shown to be the analog of an "ideal experiment" for observing stationary temporal gap solitons, never observed so far. A clear distinction is established between the family of Floquet-Bloch solitons in general and discrete solitons in particular, and the limiting case of gap solitons.     

Spatial modulation instability in a Kerr slab waveguide

We report the observation of noise-initiated modulational instability in AlGaAs slab waveguides at 1.55 microm . Experiments were performed with the local, ultrafast Kerr nonlinearity at half the bandgap. The agreement between experiment and theory for the periodicity versus intensity was good.     

Discrete solitons in inhomogeneous waveguide arrays

The existence and dynamical properties of discrete solitons in inhomogeneous waveguide arrays with a Kerr nonlinearity are studied in two different configurations. First we investigate the effect of a longitudinal periodic modulation of the coupling strength on the dynamics of discrete solitons. It is shown that resonances of internal modes of the soliton with the longitudinal structure may lead to soliton oscillations and decay. Second we study the existence and stability of discrete solitons in arrays exhibiting a linear variation of the waveguide effective index in the transverse direction. We find that resonant coupling between conventional discrete solitons and linear Wannier-Stark states leads to the formation of so-called hybrid discrete solitons.     

Image reconstruction in segmented waveguide arrays

A simple design of spatially finite one-dimensional and bidimensional waveguide arrays, showing self-imaging properties, is proposed. Image reconstruction insensitive to array truncation is achieved by the introduction of short waveguide interruptions (waveguide segmentation), which act as a focusing lens for discretized light.     

Optical Bloch oscillations in waveguide arrays

We show that optical Bloch oscillations can emerge in waveguide arrays with linearly varying propagation constants. The existence of localized modes (Wannier-Stark states) with equidistant wave-number spacing (Wannier-Stark ladder) that do not undergo diffraction is analytically proved. The evolution of arbitrary initial excitations is described, and potential applications are suggested.     

Self-focusing and defocusing in waveguide arrays

We show that two regimes of diffraction exist in arrays of waveguides, depending upon the input conditions. At higher powers, normal diffraction leads to self-focusing and to the formation of bright solitons through the nonlinear Kerr effect. By slightly changing the input conditions, light experiences anomalous diffraction and is nonlinearly defocused. For the first time, self-focusing and self-defocusing have been achieved for the same medium, structure, and wavelength.     

Fano resonance in quadratic waveguide arrays

We study resonant light scattering in arrays of channel optical waveguides in which tunable quadratic non-linearity is introduced as nonlinear defects by periodic poling of single (or several) waveguides in the array. We describe novel features of wave scattering that can be observed in this structure and show that it is a good candidate for observation of Fano resonance in nonlinear optics.     

Higher-order solitons in amplitude-disordered waveguide arrays

We investigate the existence and stability of different families of spatial solitons in optical waveguide arrays whose amplitudes obey a disordered distribution. The competition between focusing nonlinearity and linearly disordered refractive index modulation results in the formation of spatial localized nonlinear states. Solitons originating from Anderson modes with few nodes are robust during propagation. While multi-peaked solitons with in-phase neighboring components are completely unstable, multipole-mode solitons whose neighboring components are out-of-phase can propagate stably in wide parameter regions provided that their power exceeds a critical value. Our findings, thus, provide the first example of stable higher-order nonlinear states in disordered systems.     

Discrete Talbot effect in waveguide arrays

We report the first observation of discrete Talbot revivals in one-dimensional waveguide arrays. Unlike continuous systems where the Talbot self-imaging effect always occurs irrespective of the pattern period, in discrete configurations this process is only possible for a specific set of periodicities. Recurrence of different input periodic patterns is observed in good agreement with theory.     

Beam interaction in one-dimensional inhomogeneous Kerr nonlinear arrays

The interactions between two parallel and co-polarized beams in weakly coupled cubic focusing nonlinear waveguide arrays with transverse inhomogeneous modulation of the refractive index were investigated by means of beam propagation method. Results show that the in-phase beams attract each other and coalesce when the inhomogeneous parameter is smaller than a critical value. For the out-of-phase beams, oscillations exist at low power level, and the larger inhomogeneous parameter, the larger period and amplitude of oscillation. At a high power level, solitonlike propagation of weak coupling occurs. The inhomogeneity of waveguide arrays provide a flexible way to control the interactions of beams, and may find potential applications in all-optical systems.     

Discrete elliptic solitons in two-dimensional waveguide arrays

The fundamental properties of discrete elliptic solitons (DESs) in the two-dimensional waveguide arrays were studied. The DESs show nontrivial spatial structures in their parameters space due to the introduction of the new freedom of ellipticity, and their stability is closely linked to their propagation directions in the transverse plane.     

Nonlinear femtosecond pulse reshaping in waveguide arrays

We observe nonlinear pulse reshaping of femtosecond pulses in a waveguide array owing to coupling between waveguides. Amplified pulses from a mode-locked fiber laser are coupled to an AlGaAs core waveguide array structure. The observed power-dependent pulse reshaping agrees with theory, including shortening of the pulse in the central waveguide.     

Nonlinear beam interactions in semi-infinite waveguide arrays

The interactions between coherent beams launched near the interface of one-dimensional semi-infinite Kerr-type nonlinear waveguide arrays have been theoretically investigated. We have explored the effect of the input intensities, the relative phase of the optical beams, and the modulation of the refractive index of the optical lattices on nonlinear beam interaction dynamics. For in-phase beams with different incident intensities, the highly-localized spatial soliton was dragged in a discrete fashion by a low-intensity diffracting beam. Anomalous fusion of two out-of-phase beams, and energy exchange between the excited channels were observed at high intensities. The possibility of employing nonlinear interactions for optical signal re-addressing, all-optical switching is also discussed.