Soliton Effects in Nonlinear Guided-Wave Optics

最近从理论上证明，类孤子波可以被包含至少一种克尔型自聚焦介质的光波导结构所引导，并且在高激发条件下，空间孤子可以从这种非线性结构中发射出来。这导致了新的基于孤子的单波导器件的预测，如光限制器和全光开关，以及隔离波导之间的新耦合模式。本文提出理论与实验相结合的方案，以理论为主导，建立在集成光学中观测和利用空间孤子非线性导波现象的可行性。研究人员将首先：(a)将他们之前的二维连续波研究扩展到全三维模拟；(b)纳入更现实的材料非线性，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四维时空问题；(d)为单波导和多波导寻找新的基于孤子的器件。基于这些计算并与之并行，实验将开始研究非线性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.