Shortcuts to adiabaticity for an interacting Bose-Einstein condensate via exact solutions of the generalized Ermakov equation

Shortcuts to adiabatic soliton compression in active nonlinear Kerr media

We implement variational shortcuts to adiabaticity for optical pulse compression in an active nonlinear Kerr medium with distributed amplification and spatially varying dispersion and nonlinearity. Starting with the hyperbolic secant ansatz, we employ a variational approximation to systematically derive dynamical equations, establishing analytical relationships linking the amplitude, width, and chirp of the pulse. Through the inverse engineering approach, we manipulate the distributed gain/loss, nonlinearity and dispersion profiles to efficiently compress the optical pulse over a reduced distance with high fidelity. In addition, we explore the dynamical stability of the system to illustrate the advantage of our protocol over conventional adiabatic approaches. Finally, we analyze the impact of tailored higher-order dispersion on soliton self-compression and derive physical constraints on the final soliton width for the complementary case of soliton expansion. The broader implications of our findings extend beyond optical systems, encompassing areas such as cold-atom and magnetic systems highlighting the versatility and relevance of our approach in various physical contexts.

Introduction to Focus Issue: Instabilities and nonequilibrium structures

This Focus Issue on instabilities and nonequilibrium structures includes invited contributions from leading researchers across many different fields. The issue was inspired in part by the "VII Instabilities and Nonequilibrium Structures 2019" conference that took place at the Pontifica Universidad Católica de Valparaiso, Chile in December 2019. The conference, which is devoted to nonlinear science, is one of the oldest conferences in South America (since December 1985). This session has an exceptional character since it coincides with the 80th anniversary of Professor Enrique Tirapegui. We take this opportunity to highlight Tirapegui's groundbreaking contributions in the field of random perturbations experienced by macroscopic systems and in the formation of spatiotemporal structures in such systems operating far from thermodynamic equilibrium. This issue addresses a cross-disciplinary area of research as can be witnessed by the diversity of systems considered from inert matter such as photonics, chemistry, and fluid dynamics, to biology.

Shortcuts to Adiabaticity for Optical Beam Propagation in Nonlinear Gradient Refractive-Index Media

In recent years, the concept of “shortcuts to adiabaticity" has been originally proposed to speed up sufficiently slow adiabatic process in various quantum systems without final excitation. Based on the analogy between classical optics and quantum mechanics, we present a study on fast non-adiabatic compression of optical beam propagation in nonlinear gradient refractive-index media by using shortcuts to adiabaticity. We first apply the variational approximation method in nonlinear optics to derive the auxiliary equation for connecting the beam width with the refractive index of the medium. Then, the gradient refractive index is inversely designed through the perfect compression of beam width with the appropriate boundary conditions. Finally, the comparison with conventional adiabatic compression is made, showing the advantage of our shortcuts.