Do solitonlike self-similar waves exist in nonlinear optical media?
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Updated: Aug 6, 2026

Rapid Repetition Rate Fluctuation Measurement of Soliton Crystals in a Microresonator
Published on: December 15, 2021
Sergey A Ponomarenko1, Govind P Agrawal
1Theoretical Division T-4, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos New Mexico 87545 USA.
Abstract:
We show analytically that bright and dark spatial self-similar waves can propagate in graded-index amplifiers exhibiting self-focusing or self-defocusing Kerr nonlinearities. The intensity profiles of the novel waves are identical with those of fundamental bright or dark spatial solitons supported by homogeneous passive waveguides with the same type of nonlinearity. Thus, we reveal a previously unnoticed connection between spatial solitons and self-similar waves. We also suggest that the discovered self-similar waves can be used in a promising scheme for the amplification and focusing of spatial solitons in future all-optical networks.
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