30 research outputs found
Turning light into a liquid via atomic coherence
We study a four level atomic system with electromagnetically induced
transparency with giant and susceptibilities of
opposite signs. This system would allow to obtain multidimensional solitons and
light condensates with surface tension properties analogous to those of usual
liquids
Controlling pulse propagation in optical fibers through nonlinearity and dispersion management
In case of the nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation with designed group velocity
dispersion, variable nonlinearity and gain/loss; we analytically demonstrate
the phenomenon of chirp reversal crucial for pulse reproduction. Two different
scenarios are exhibited, where the pulses experience identical dispersion
profiles, but show entirely different propagation behavior. Exact expressions
for dynamical quasi-solitons and soliton bound-states relevant for fiber
communication are also exhibited.Comment: 4 pages, 5 eps figure
Partially incoherent optical vortices in self-focusing nonlinear media
We observe stable propagation of spatially localized single- and
double-charge optical vortices in a self-focusing nonlinear medium. The
vortices are created by self-trapping of partially incoherent light carrying a
phase dislocation, and they are stabilized when the spatial incoherence of
light exceeds a certain threshold. We confirm the vortex stabilization effect
by numerical simulations and also show that the similar mechanism of
stabilization applies to higher-order vortices.Comment: 4 pages and 6 figures (including 3 experimental figures
Stable ring vortex solitons in Bessel optical lattices
Stable ring 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 lattice 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.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter
A Potential of Interaction between Two- and Three-Dimensional Solitons
A general method to find an effective potential of interaction between far
separated 2D and 3D solitons is elaborated, including the case of 2D vortex
solitons. The method is based on explicit calculation of the overlapping term
in the full Hamiltonian of the system (_without_ assuming that the ``tail'' of
each soliton is not affected by its interaction with the other soliton, and, in
fact,_without_ knowing the exact form of the solution for an isolated soliton -
the latter problem is circumvented by reducing a bulk integral to a surface
one). The result is obtained in an explicit form that does not contain an
artificially introduced radius of the overlapping region. The potential applies
to spatial and spatiotemporal solitons in nonlinear optics, where it may help
to solve various dynamical problems: collisions, formation of bound states
(BS's), etc. In particular, an orbiting BS of two solitons is always unstable.
In the presence of weak dissipation and gain, the effective potential can also
be derived, giving rise to bound states similar to those recently studied in 1D
models.Comment: 29 double-spaced pages in the latex format and 1 figure in the ps
format. The paper will appear in Phys. Rev.
A system of ODEs for a Perturbation of a Minimal Mass Soliton
We study soliton solutions to a nonlinear Schrodinger equation with a
saturated nonlinearity. Such nonlinearities are known to possess minimal mass
soliton solutions. We consider a small perturbation of a minimal mass soliton,
and identify a system of ODEs similar to those from Comech and Pelinovsky
(2003), which model the behavior of the perturbation for short times. We then
provide numerical evidence that under this system of ODEs there are two
possible dynamical outcomes, which is in accord with the conclusions of
Pelinovsky, Afanasjev, and Kivshar (1996). For initial data which supports a
soliton structure, a generic initial perturbation oscillates around the stable
family of solitons. For initial data which is expected to disperse, the finite
dimensional dynamics follow the unstable portion of the soliton curve.Comment: Minor edit
Nonlinear vortex light beams supported and stabilized by dissipation
We describe nonlinear Bessel vortex beams as localized and stationary
solutions with embedded vorticity to the nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation with
a dissipative term that accounts for the multi-photon absorption processes
taking place at high enough powers in common optical media. In these beams,
power and orbital angular momentum are permanently transferred to matter in the
inner, nonlinear rings, at the same time that they are refueled by spiral
inward currents of energy and angular momentum coming from the outer linear
rings, acting as an intrinsic reservoir. Unlike vortex solitons and dissipative
vortex solitons, the existence of these vortex beams does not critically depend
on the precise form of the dispersive nonlinearities, as Kerr self-focusing or
self-defocusing, and do not require a balancing gain. They have been shown to
play a prominent role in "tubular" filamentation experiments with powerful,
vortex-carrying Bessel beams, where they act as attractors in the beam
propagation dynamics. Nonlinear Bessel vortex beams provide indeed a new
solution to the problem of the stable propagation of ring-shaped vortex light
beams in homogeneous self-focusing Kerr media. A stability analysis
demonstrates that there exist nonlinear Bessel vortex beams with single or
multiple vorticity that are stable against azimuthal breakup and collapse, and
that the mechanism that renders these vortexes stable is dissipation. The
stability properties of nonlinear Bessel vortex beams explain the experimental
observations in the tubular filamentation experiments.Comment: Chapter of boo
Stable spinning optical solitons in three dimensions
We introduce spatiotemporal spinning solitons (vortex tori) of the
three-dimensional nonlinear Schrodinger equation with focusing cubic and
defocusing quintic nonlinearities. The first ever found completely stable
spatiotemporal vortex solitons are demonstrated. A general conclusion is that
stable spinning solitons are possible as a result of competition between
focusing and defocusing nonlinearities.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, accepted to Phys. Rev. Let
Micro-combs: a novel generation of optical sources
The quest towards the integration of ultra-fast, high-precision optical clocks is reflected in the large number of high-impact papers on the topic published in the last few years. This interest has been catalysed by the impact that high-precision optical frequency combs (OFCs) have had on metrology and spectroscopy in the last decade [1–5]. OFCs are often referred to as optical rulers: their spectra consist of a precise sequence of discrete and equally-spaced spectral lines that represent precise marks in frequency. Their importance was recognised worldwide with the 2005 Nobel Prize being awarded to T.W. Hänsch and J. Hall for their breakthrough in OFC science [5]. They demonstrated that a coherent OFC source with a large spectrum – covering at least one octave – can be stabilised with a self-referenced approach, where the frequency and the phase do not vary and are completely determined by the source physical parameters. These fully stabilised OFCs solved the challenge of directly measuring optical frequencies and are now exploited as the most accurate time references available, ready to replace the current standard for time. Very recent advancements in the fabrication technology of optical micro-cavities [6] are contributing to the development of OFC sources. These efforts may open up the way to realise ultra-fast and stable optical clocks and pulsed sources with extremely high repetition-rates, in the form of compact and integrated devices. Indeed, the fabrication of high-quality factor (high-Q) micro-resonators, capable of dramatically amplifying the optical field, can be considered a photonics breakthrough that has boosted not only the scientific investigation of OFC sources [7–13] but also of optical sensors and compact light modulators [6,14]
A VariationalApproach to Spherical Aberrations in the Thermal-Wave Model forBeam Dynamics in Charged Particle Accelerators
A direct variational approach involving trial functions and Ritz optimization, which has previously been found very useful in nonlinear optics, is applied to analyze the effects of spherical aberrations on the focusing properties of charged particle beams in particle colliders. As compared to conventional perturbation theory, the variational approach provides a simple and physically clear analysis. Explicit expressions are given for the transverse particle beam density, the spot size, and the luminosity reduction factor at the interaction point, in good agreement with the perturbative results