Trapping of light beams and formation of spatial solitary waves in quadratic nonlinear media

Summary form only given. In this paper we report the outcome of our comprehensive investigations to study the dynamics of the beam trapping in both bulk crystals and optical planar waveguides made of quadratic nonlinear media in second-harmonic generation configurations. We address and discuss the suitable experimental conditions required to form spatial solitary waves in critical phase-matching and quasi-phase-matching settings.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Spatially incoherent modulational instability in a non local medium

We investigate one-dimensional transverse modulational instability in a non local medium excited with a spatially incoherent source. Employing undoped nematic liquid crystals in a planar pre-tilted configuration, we investigate the role of the spectral broadening induced by incoherence in conjunction with the spatially non local molecular reorientation. The phenomenon is modeled using the Wigner transform.Comment: 13 pages with 4 figures included. To be published in Laser Physics Letter

New nonlinear dielectric materials: Linear electrorheological fluids under the influence of electrostriction

The usual approach to the development of new nonlinear dielectric materials focuses on the search for materials in which the components possess an inherently large nonlinear dielectric response. In contrast, based on thermodynamics, we have presented a first-principles approach to obtain the electrostriction-induced effective third-order nonlinear susceptibility for the electrorheological (ER) fluids in which the components have inherent linear, rather than nonlinear, responses. In detail, this kind of nonlinear susceptibility is in general of about the same order of magnitude as the compressibility of the linear ER fluid at constant pressure. Moreover, our approach has been demonstrated in excellent agreement with a different statistical method. Thus, such linear ER fluids can serve as a new nonlinear dielectric material.Comment: 11 page

Phase Controlled All-Optical Switching In Rocking Filter Fibers

We demonstrate experimentally that all-optical switching of a strong beam can be controlled by the phase of a weak beam in a rocking rotator fiber

Spatial soliton robustness against spatially anisotropic phase perturbations

We demonstrate experimentally that spatial solitons in AlGaAs waveguides are resilient against spatially anisotropic perturbations in their phase caused by introducing a wedge in the soliton propagation path. In agreement with numerical simulations, the solitons maintained their initial beam shape and width, independent of the fraction of the soliton beam intercepted by the wedge