Soliton Effects in Nonlinear Guided-Wave Optics

最近的理论研究表明，类孤子波可以由至少含有一种克尔自聚焦介质的光波导结构来引导，并且在高激发条件下，这种非线性结构可以发射出空间孤子。这导致了新的基于孤子的单波导器件的预测，例如光限幅器和全光开关，以及孤立波导间的新的耦合模式。该方案采用理论和实验相结合的方案，以理论为先导，建立了在集成光学中观测和利用基于空间孤子的非线性导波现象的可行性。研究人员首先将：(A)将他们以前的2-D连续波研究扩展到全3-D模拟；(B)结合更真实的材料非线性并评估它们对这些现象的影响；(C)解决与脉冲输入相关的完整的4-D时空问题；以及(D)为单和多个波导寻找新的基于孤子的器件。在这些计算的基础上，同时还将开始实验研究非线性光波导结构中的空间和时间孤子效应。

It has recently been shown theoretically that soliton-like waves can be guided by optical waveguiding structures containing at least one Kerr- type, self-focusing medium, and that under conditions of high excitation, spatial solitons can be emitted from such a nonlinear structure. This has led to the prediction of new soliton-based single waveguide devices such as optical limiters and all-optical switches, as well as new modes of coupling between isolated waveguides. This proposal concerns a combined program of theory and experiment, with theory leading the way, to establish the feasibility of observing and utilizing spatial-soliton-based nonlinear guided-wave phenomena in integrated optics. The investigators will initially: (a) extend their previous 2-D cw studies to full 3-D simulations; (b) incorporate more realistic material nonlinearities and assess their effects on these phenomena; (c) address the full 4-D spatio-temporal problem which is associated with pulsed inputs; and (d) search for new soliton-based devices for single and multiple waveguides. Based on these calculations and in parallel with them, experiments will be initiated to investigate both spatial and temporal soliton effects in nonlinear waveguiding structures.