Are Spatial Solitons Of Both Polarizations Stable In Kerr Slab Waveguides?

An overview is given on the first example of a polarization instability of spatial vector solitons. The instability is due to interaction with the radiation field rather than to the emergence of mixed polarization modes

Radiation-Related Polarization Instability Of Kerr Spatial Vector Solitons

We report the experimental observation and numerical simulations of a polarization instability of spatial vector solitons in an AlGaAs slab waveguide. At power levels where the nonlinear index change becomes comparable to the birefringence, the fast soliton becomes unstable. The instability is related to coupling of the fast soliton to the slow radiation modes through phase matching. The combined effects of bifurcation and radiation coupling are the processes ultimately limiting the stability of any single-polarization (fast and slow) Kerr soliton. © 2002 Optical Society of America

Radiation-related Polarization Instability of Kerr Spatial Vector Solitons

We report the experimental observation and numerical simulations of a polarization instability of spatial vector solitons in an AlGaAs slab waveguide. At power levels where the nonlinear index change becomes comparable to the birefringence, the fast soliton becomes unstable. The instability is related to coupling of the fast soliton to the slow radiation modes through phase matching. The combined effects of bifurcation and radiation coupling are the processes ultimately limiting the stability of any single-polarization (fast and slow) Kerr soliton

Radiation-related polarization instability of Kerr spatial vector solitons

We report the experimental observation and numerical simulations of a polarization instability of spatial vector solitons in an AlGaAs slab waveguide. At power levels where the nonlinear index change becomes comparable to the birefringence, the fast soliton becomes unstable. The instability is related to coupling of the fast soliton to the slow radiation modes through phase matching. The combined effects of bifurcation and radiation coupling are the processes ultimately limiting the stability of any single-polarization (fast and slow) Kerr soliton

Radiation related polarization instability of fast Kerr spatial solitons in slab waveguides

We report the observation of a power-dependent polarization conversion from a fast spatial soliton-like beam into the orthogonal polarization in an AlGaAs slab waveguide at power levels below which the nonlinear index change becomes comparable to the birefringence. The slow soliton, however, shows no polarization conversion. We interpret these results in terms of the previously predicted polarization instability of a fast soliton into orthogonally polarized radiation. The experimental results are in qualitative agreement with theory