Related Experiment Videos
Dissipative photonic lattice solitons
Erdem A Ultanir1, George I Stegeman, Demetrios N Christodoulides
1School of Optics, Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida 32816, USA. eultanir@mail.ucf.edu
Optics Letters
|May 4, 2004
Summary
Discrete dissipative optical lattice solitons are achievable in waveguide arrays with semiconductor optical amplifiers and saturable absorbers. These low-power solitons exhibit unique characteristics mapped on Floquet-Bloch band diagrams.
Area of Science:
- Nonlinear optics
- Condensed matter physics
- Waveguide optics
Background:
- Optical solitons are fundamental in nonlinear optics.
- Dissipative systems offer unique soliton dynamics.
- Lattice potentials introduce rich phenomena in wave propagation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To demonstrate the existence of discrete dissipative optical lattice solitons.
- To investigate the properties of these low-power soliton states.
- To analyze their behavior within Floquet-Bloch band structures.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing waveguide array configurations.
- Incorporating periodically patterned semiconductor optical amplifiers.
- Employing saturable absorbers for dissipation.
- Mapping propagation constant eigenvalues onto Floquet-Bloch band diagrams.
Main Results:
- Confirmation of discrete dissipative optical lattice solitons.
- Characterization of low-power soliton states.
- Detailed mapping of eigenvalues on band diagrams.
Conclusions:
- Discrete dissipative optical lattice solitons are feasible.
- These solitons possess distinct characteristics influenced by lattice and gain-loss.
- Further investigation into their observation and applications is warranted.