Bilinearization of the generalized coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equation with variable coefficients and gain and...

We investigate coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations (NLSEs) with variable coefficients and gain. The coupled NLSE is a model equation for optical soliton propagation and their interaction in a multimode fiber medium or in a fiber array. By using Hirota's bilinear method, we obtain the bright-bright, dark-bright combinations of a one-soliton solution (1SS) and two-soliton solutions (2SS) for an n-coupled NLSE with variable coefficients and gain. Crucial properties of two-soliton (dark-bright pair) interactions, such as elastic and inelastic interactions and the dynamics of soliton bound states, are studied using asymptotic analysis and graphical analysis. We show that a bright 2-soliton, in addition to elastic interactions, also exhibits multiple inelastic interactions. A dark 2-soliton, on the other hand, exhibits only elastic interactions. We also observe a breatherlike structure of a bright 2-soliton, a feature that become prominent with gain and disappears as the amplitude acquires a minimum value, and after that the solitons remain parallel. The dark 2-soliton, however, remains parallel irrespective of the gain. The results found by us might be useful for applications in soliton control, a fiber amplifier, all optical switching, and optical computing.