Algebraic bright and vortex solitons in defocusing media

We demonstrate that spatially inhomogeneous defocusing nonlinear landscapes with the nonlinearity coefficient growing toward the periphery as (1+|r|(α)) support one- and two-dimensional fundamental and higher-order bright solitons, as well as vortex solitons, with algebraically decaying tails. The energy flow of the solitons converges as long as nonlinearity growth rate exceeds the dimensionality, i.e., α>D. Fundamental solitons are always stable, while multipoles and vortices are stable if the nonlinearity growth rate is large enough.     

Self-trapping and splitting of bright vector solitons under inhomogeneous defocusing nonlinearities

We show that bimodal systems with a spatially nonuniform defocusing cubic nonlinearity, whose strength grows toward the periphery, can support stable two-component solitons. For a sufficiently strong cross-phase-modulation interaction, vector solitons with overlapping components become unstable, while stable families of solitons with spatially separated components emerge. Stable complexes with separated components may be built not only of fundamental solitons, but of multipoles, too.     

Exact solutions for bright and dark solitons in spatially inhomogeneous nonlinearity

We present exact analytical results for bright and dark solitons in a type of one-dimensional spatially inhomogeneous nonlinearity. We show that the competition between a homogeneous self-defocusing (SDF) nonlinearity and a localized self-focusing (SF) nonlinearity supports stable fundamental bright solitons. For a specific choice of the nonlinear parameters, exact analytical solutions for fundamental bright solitons have been obtained. By applying both variational approximation and Vakhitov-Kolokolov stability criterion, it is found that exact fundamental bright solitons are stable. Our analytical results are also confirmed numerically. Additionally, we show that a homogeneous SF nonlinearity modulated by a localized SF nonlinearity allows the existence of exact dark solitons, for certain special cases of nonlinear parameters. By making use of linear stability analysis and direct numerical simulation, it is found that these exact dark solitons are linearly unstable.     

Stable two-dimensional solitons supported by radially inhomogeneous self-focusing nonlinearity

We demonstrate that modulation of the local strength of the cubic self-focusing (SF) nonlinearity in the two-dimensional geometry, in the form of a circle with contrast Δg of the SF coefficient relative to the ambient medium with a weaker nonlinearity, stabilizes a family of fundamental solitons against the critical collapse. The result is obtained in an analytical form, using the variational approximation and Vakhitov-Kolokolov stability criterion, and corroborated by numerical computations. For the small contrast, the stability interval of the soliton's norm scales as ΔN~Δg (the replacement of the circle by an annulus leads to a reduction of the stability region by perturbations breaking the axial symmetry). To further illustrate this mechanism, we demonstrate, in an exact form, the stabilization of one-dimensional solitons against the critical collapse under the action of a locally enhanced quintic SF nonlinearity.     

Highly noninstantaneous solitons in liquid-core photonic crystal fibers

The nonlinear propagation of pulses in liquid-filled photonic crystal fibers is considered. Because of the slow reorientational nonlinearity of some molecular liquids, the nonlinear modes propagating inside such structures can be approximated, for pulse durations much shorter than the molecular relaxation time, by temporally highly nonlocal solitons, analytical solutions of a linear Schr?dinger equation. The physical relevance of these novel solitons is discussed.     

Optical vortex solitons and soliton clusters in photonic crystal fibres

We study higher-order nonlinear modes in the form of vortex solitons and soliton clusters propagating in the waveguides created in photonic crystal fibers made of a material with the focusing Kerr nonlinearity. We find numerically different families of such nonlinear modes with a nontrivial topology and study their bifurcations. We also study the soliton stability to propagation. We demonstrate that waveguides in photonic crystal fibers may support a variety of soliton clusters with the symmetries that may differ from the lattice symmetry. We also discuss briefly the case of a dual-core coupler created by two neighboring cores in a photonic crystal fiber and find numerically the profiles of symmetric and asymmetric nonlinear modes.     

Two-component vector solitons in defocusing Kerr-type media with spatially modulated nonlinearity

We present a class of exact solutions to the coupled (2+1$2+1$)-dimensional nonlinear Schrödinger equation with spatially modulated nonlinearity and a special external potential, which describe the evolution of two-component vector solitons in defocusing Kerr-type media. We find a robust soliton solution, constructed with the help of Whittaker functions. For specific choices of the topological charge, the radial mode number and the modulation depth, the solitons may exist in various forms, such as the half-moon, necklace-ring, and sawtooth vortex-ring patterns. Our results show that the profile of such solitons can be effectively controlled by the topological charge, the radial mode number, and the modulation depth.     

Effective Kerr nonlinearity and two-color solitons in photonic band-gap fibers filled with a Raman active gas

We predict a strong effective Kerr nonlinearity in hollow-core photonic crystal fibers filled with a Raman active gas which exceeds the intrinsic Kerr nonlinearity by 2 orders of magnitude. Two-color bright-bright and dark-bright solitons supported by this nonlinearity are found and the feasibility of their experimental observation is demonstrated.     

Dipole and quadrupole solitons in optically-induced two-dimensional defocusing photonic lattices

Dipole and quadrupole solitons in a two-dimensional optically induced defocusing photonic lattice are theoretically predicted and experimentally observed. It is shown that in-phase nearest-neighbor and out-of-phase next-nearest-neighbor dipoles exist and can be stable in the intermediate intensity regime. There are also different types of dipoles that are always unstable. In-phase nearest-neighbor quadrupoles are also numerically obtained, and may also be linearly stable. Out-of-phase, nearest-neighbor quadrupoles are found to be typically unstable. These numerical results are found to be aligned with the main predictions obtained analytically in the discrete nonlinear Schrödinger model. Finally, experimental results are presented for both dipole and quadrupole structures, indicating that self-trapping of such structures in the defocusing lattice can be realized for the length of the nonlinear crystal (10 mm).     

低损耗宽带近零色散高非线性光子晶体光纤设计

提出了一种兼具低损耗、宽带近零色散和高非线性的光子晶体光纤结构,该结构光纤包层空气孔直径从纤芯向外层方向渐进增加;应用多极法,通过改变包层空气孔间距Λ、各层空气孔直径和空气孔层数N_r,对光子晶体光纤色散、损耗和非线性特性进行分析,获得了各特性随包层结构参数变化的规律,并最终设计出最佳结构参数。计算结果表明,该结构光纤存在3个零色散点,在1.25～1.55 μm较宽的波长范围内,色散值波动小于0.27 ps·nm⁻¹·km⁻¹,色散斜率小于0.008 ps·km⁻¹·nm⁻²,1.55 μm波长处损耗为0.021 dB/km,在常用的飞秒激光泵浦波长0.8,1.06,1.55 μm处非线性系数分别达到78.6,60.4,38.2 W⁻¹·km⁻¹。     

Theory of photoionization-induced blueshift of ultrashort solitons in gas-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fibers

We show theoretically that the photoionization process in a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber filled with a Raman-inactive noble gas leads to a constant acceleration of solitons in the time domain with a continuous shift to higher frequencies, limited only by ionization loss. This phenomenon is opposite to the well-known Raman self-frequency redshift of solitons in solid-core glass fibers. We also predict the existence of unconventional long-range nonlocal soliton interactions leading to spectral and temporal soliton clustering. Furthermore, if the core is filled with a Raman-active molecular gas, spectral transformations between redshifted, blueshifted, and stabilized solitons can take place in the same fiber.     

双折射光子晶体光纤中基于孤子分裂的超连续光谱产生

利用亚纳焦量级、脉冲宽度为100 fs的激光脉冲在双折射光子晶体光纤中获得了450—1050 nm 的超连续光谱,且超连续光谱具有明显的分立峰状结构.分析了光谱中分立峰状结构产生的物理机制,抽运光波长处于接近零色散波长的反常色散区,形成高阶光孤子,由于高阶非线性和高阶色散的影响,高阶孤子分裂成多个基孤子,使初始光谱上演化出红移的光孤子成分和蓝移的色散波成分.理论模拟了飞秒激光脉冲在光纤中的色散特性和传输特性,较好地解释了实验结果. 关键词： 光子晶体光纤 超连续光谱产生 孤子分裂 脉冲俘获     

Observation of discrete gap solitons in one-dimensional waveguide arrays with alternating spacings and saturable defocusing nonlinearity

We consider, both experimentally and theoretically, the existence and stability of localized, symmetric, and antisymmetric gap solitons (GSs) in binary lattices of identical waveguides but with alternating spacings. Furthermore, the properties of surface GSs at the boundary of the lattice are explored.     

Optical sensing with photonic crystal fibers

A review of optical fiber sensing demonstrations based on photonic crystal fibers is presented. The text is organized in five main sections: the first three deal with sensing approaches relying on fiber Bragg gratings, long‐period gratings and interferometric structures; the fourth one reports applications of these fibers for gas and liquid sensing; finally, the last section focuses on the exploitation of nonlinear effects in photonic crystal fibers for sensing.     

Polarization squeezing with photonic crystal fibers

We report on the generation of polarization squeezing by employing intense, ultrashort light pulses in a single pass method in photonic crystal fibers. We investigated the squeezing behavior near the zero-dispersion wavelength and in the anomalous dispersion regime by using two distinct fibers. We observed a maximal squeezing at 810 nm of −3.3 ± 0.3 dB with an excess noise of +16.8 ± 0.3 dB in the anomalous regime. Correcting for linear and interference losses between the polarization modes, this corresponds to −6 ± 1 dB. The ratio of squeezing to excess noise indicates the creation of a much purer state; this ratio indeed lies an order of magnitude below those squeezing experiments that exploit traditional fibers [1]. We attribute this increased state of purity to increased effective nonlinearity and to the reduction of scattering on acoustic modes in the fiber. Original Text ? Astro, Ltd., 2007.     

Spatial solitons in an optical lattice with varying diffraction and spatially inhomogeneous nonlinearity

In this paper, we present the (1+1)-dimensional inhomogeneous nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation that describes the propagation of optical waves in nonlinear optical systems exhibiting optical lattice, inhomogeneous nonlinearity and varying diffraction at the same time. A series of interesting properties of spatial solitons are found from the numerical calculations, such as the stable propagation in the a nonperiodic optical lattice induced by periodic diffraction variations and periodic nonlinearity variations. Finally, the interaction of neighboring spatial solitons in a nonperiodic optical lattice is discussed, and the results reveal that two spatial solitons can propagate periodically and separately in the optical lattice without interaction.     

Stable ring-profile vortex solitons in bessel optical lattices

Stable ring-profile vortex solitons, featuring a bright shape, appear to be very rare in nature. However, here we show that they exist and can be made dynamically stable in defocusing cubic nonlinear media with an imprinted Bessel optical lattice. We find the families of vortex solitons and reveal their salient properties, including the conditions required for their stability. We show that the higher the soliton topological charge, the deeper the lattice modulation necessary for stabilization.     

Elliptical-hole photonic crystal fibers

We study the dispersive properties of photonic crystal fibers (PCF's) with elliptical air holes. The unusual guidance of PCF leads to novel behavior of the birefringence, group-velocity walk-off, and dispersion parameters, including the possibility of zero walk-off with high birefringence in the single-mode regime. A number of these effects are closely tied to the underlying radiation states of the air-hole lattice.     

Hydrophobic photonic crystal fibers

We propose and demonstrate hydrophobic photonic crystal fibers (PCFs). A chemical surface treatment for making PCFs hydrophobic is introduced. This repels water from the holes of PCFs, so that their optical properties remain unchanged even when they are immersed in water. The combination of a hollow core and a water-repellent inner surface of the hydrophobic PCF provides an ultracompact dissolved-gas sensor element, which is demonstrated for the sensing of dissolved ammonia gas.