Managed Optical Spatiotemporal Solitons

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This is a project to perform theoretical and experimental studies of the nonlinear propagation of ultrahort optical pulses, with a focus on spatiotemporal aspects of the pulse evolution. In general, a pulse of light spreads out in space and time as it propagates, owing to diffraction and material dispersion. However, under some conditions it is possible to make a pulse of light that does not spread or disperse, and such a pulse is called a soliton. The central theme of this project is the investigation of pulse propagation in layered, periodic structures, which may support soliton formation by "managing" the effects that generally cause localized wave fields to disperse. A specific goal is to observe spatiotemporal solitons, which are referred to as "light bullets" in recognition of their particle-like character. Such solitons have never been observed experimentally. The work will be carried out in collaboration with groups from Tel Aviv and Barcelona. The issues addressed and concepts developed in this project range from the fundamental science of nonlinear dynamical systems to practical laser instruments. There are substantial parallels between the nonlinear propagation of optical pulses and the evolution of Bose-Einstein condensates. The same is true of plasma physics and hydrodynamics. There is great interest in the study of light-matter interactions under extreme conditions, and deeper understanding of spatiotemporal pulse propagation will facilitate this. Soliton formation can be used to produce pulses/beams that are not available directly from lasers, and this drives application interest and even commercial interest. Finally, light bullets may be useful as bits of information in future all-optical computing or information-processing systems. The simple concept of a localized packet of electromagnetic energy, along with the visual nature of experiments with light, will allow experiments constructed for the project to be used for high-impact demonstrations of basic phenomena to students in a senior-level undergraduate class on nonlinear optics.