Soliton interaction mediated by cascaded four wave mixing with dispersive waves

Manipulating Airy pulse in the regime of optical event horizon

A fiber analogue of the optical event horizon is proposed via an Airy-soliton collision. The characteristics of an Airy pulse are demonstrated in a photonic crystal fiber. The robust Airy wave packet is capable of being manipulated by a strong soliton in the frame of the Airy-soliton horizon, leading to various distinctive interaction scenarios. The Airy pulse realizes the temporal reversing and still maintains its features even after undergoing a complete wavelength conversion process. Different comb-like spectra are created in the presence of Raman effect by changing the duration of the Airy pulse. The rebounds of Airy pulse in a twin-soliton trapping process is investigated. Meanwhile, a "maximally compressed" Akhmediev Breather is employed to collide with a soliton to compare with the Airy-soliton horizon case. The result can be found in the potential applications of pulse reshaping and temporal-spectral imaging for optical communication and signal processing.

Optical event horizon-based complete transformation and control of dark solitons

We propose a manipulation approach to vary the wave speed, as well as the grayness, of dark solitons under the optical event horizon arising from the interaction between a dark soliton and a probe wave. To the best of our knowledge, the optical event horizon effect is demonstrated for the first time to be capable of inducing a reversible conversion between a black soliton and a gray one. This reversible soliton transformation and control process originates from the intrinsic competition between the probe-induced nonlinear phase shift and the internal phase of the dark soliton. In a cascaded system consisting of two optical event horizons, we also observe the new optical soliton tunneling phenomena where a dark soliton can be reset longitudinally purposely. The results may find applications in information cloaking such as effectively hiding the presence of intermediate fiber section to the receiver.

Collision between a dark soliton and a linear wave in an optical fiber

We report an experimental observation of the collision between a linear wave propagating in the anomalous dispersion region of an optical fiber and a dark soliton located in the normal dispersion region. This interaction results in the emission of a new frequency component whose wavelength can be predicted using phase-matching arguments. The measured efficiency of this process shows a strong dependency with the soliton grayness and the linear wave wavelength, and is in a good agreement with theory and numerical simulations.

Dark solitons manipulation using optical event horizon

We demonstrate that the optical event horizon can provide an effective technique to actively control the propagation properties of a dark soliton with another weak probe wave. Careful power adjustment of the probe wave enables the black soliton converted into a gray one with varying grayness through the nonlinear interaction, corresponding to a nearly adiabatic variation of the soliton's speed. The sign of the phase angle for the newly formed gray soliton at optical event horizon is significantly dependent on the frequency of the launched probe wave. Linear-stability analysis of dark solitons under the perturbation of a weak probe wave is performed to clarify the intrinsic mechanism of the nonlinear interaction. The probe wave manipulated collisional dynamics between both dark solitons are investigated as an analogue of the combined white-hole and black-hole horizons which provides some insights into exploring the transition between integrable and non-integrable systems.

Asymptotically stable compensation of the soliton self-frequency shift

We report on the stable cancellation of the soliton self-frequency shift (SSFS) in nonlinear optical fibers. A soliton, which scatters a group velocity matched pump wave in a so-called optical event horizon regime, may experience a blueshift in frequency, which counteracts the SSFS induced by Raman scattering. The SSFS can easily be compensated by a suitably prepared pump wave, but usually the compensation is unstable and is destroyed after a certain propagation length. We study this kind of soliton-pump wave interaction by an adiabatic approach and quantify the parameter range in which the stable SSFS compensation is possible. The theory enjoys agreement with numerical simulations of soliton propagation.

Anderson localisation and optical-event horizons in rogue-soliton generation

We unveil the relation between the linear Anderson localisation process and nonlinear modulation instability. Anderson localised modes are formed in certain temporal intervals due to the random background noise. Such localised modes seed the formation of solitary waves that will appear during the modulation instability process at those preferred intervals. Afterwards, optical-event horizon effects between dispersive waves and solitons produce an artificial collective acceleration that favours the collision of solitons, which could eventually lead to a rogue-soliton generation.

Scattering of a cross-polarized linear wave by a soliton at an optical event horizon in a birefringent nanophotonic waveguide

The scattering of a linear wave on an optical event horizon, induced by a cross-polarized soliton, is experimentally and numerically investigated in integrated structures. The experiments are performed in a dispersion-engineered birefringent silicon nanophotonic waveguide. In stark contrast with copolarized waves, the large difference between the group velocity of the two cross-polarized waves enables a frequency conversion almost independent of the soliton wavelength. It is shown that the generated idler is only shifted by 10 nm around 1550 nm over a pump tuning range of 350 nm. Simulations using two coupled full vectorial nonlinear Schrödinger equations fully support the experimental results.

Emulation of Fabry-Perot and Bragg resonators with temporal optical solitons

The scattering of weak dispersive waves (DWs) on several equally spaced temporal solitons is studied. It is shown by systematic numerical simulations that the reflection of the DWs from the soliton trains strongly depends on the distance between the solitons. The dependence of the reflection and transmission coefficients on the inter-soliton distance and the frequency of the incident waves are studied in detail, revealing fascinating quasi-periodic behavior. The analogy between the observed nonlinear phenomena in the temporal domain and the usual Fabry-Perot and Bragg resonators is discussed.

Trapping and controlling the dispersive wave within a solitonic well

We have numerically studied the effect of mutual interactions between soliton and dispersive waves and the possibility to create a solitonic well consisting of initial twin-solitons moving away from each other to trap the incident dispersive wave. Different from the case of the solitonic cage formed by the velocity-matched twin-solitons, the intense dispersive wave can break up into small pulses, which are almost completely trapped within the solitonic well. Moreover, the corresponding spectrum of the trapped dispersive wave can be narrowed firstly and then expanded, and a new dispersive wave can be generated as the twin-solitons collision occurred. By adjusting either the peak power or temporal width of incident dispersive wave, both the intensity of the collision-induced dispersive wave and the position where it is generated can be controlled.

Observation of an optical event horizon in a silicon-on-insulator photonic wire waveguide

We report on the first experimental observation of an optical analogue of an event horizon in integrated nanophotonic waveguides, through the reflection of a continuous wave on an intense pulse. The experiment is performed in a dispersion-engineered silicon-on-insulator waveguide. In this medium, solitons do not suffer from Raman induced self-frequency shift as in silica fibers, a feature that is interesting for potential applications of optical event horizons. As shown by simulations, this also allows the observation of multiple reflections at the same time on fundamental solitons ejected by soliton fission.

Interaction of high-order solitons with external dispersive waves

The effect of mutual interaction between second-order soliton and dispersive waves (DWs) is investigated. It is predicted analytically and confirmed numerically that DWs (both transmitted and reflected components) become polychromatic after interaction with the soliton. Collision with DWs of considerable intensity can lead to acceleration/deceleration and central frequency shift of the soliton, while still preserving the soliton's oscillating structure. Two second-order solitons with resonant DWs trapped between them can form an effective solitonic cavity with "flat" or "concave mirrors," depending on the intensity of the input.

Weak and strong interactions between dark solitons and dispersive waves

The effect of mutual interactions between dark solitons and dispersive waves is investigated numerically and analytically. The condition of the resonant scattering of dispersive waves on dark solitons is derived and compared against the results of the numerical simulations. It is shown that the interaction with intense dispersive waves affects the dynamics of the solitons by accelerating, decelerating, or destroying them. It is also demonstrated that two dark solitons can form a cavity for dispersive waves bouncing between the two dark solitons. The differences of the resonant scattering of the dispersive waves on dark and bright solitons are discussed. In particular, we demonstrate that two dark solitons and a dispersive wave bouncing in between them create a solitonic cavity with convex "mirrors," unlike the concave "mirror" in the case of bright solitons.

Probe-controlled soliton frequency shift in the regime of optical event horizon

In optical analogy of the event horizon, temporal pulse collision and mutual interactions are mainly between an intense solitary wave (soliton) and a dispersive probe wave. In such a regime, here we numerically investigate the probe-controlled soliton frequency shift as well as the soliton self-compression. In particular, in the dispersion landscape with multiple zero dispersion wavelengths, bi-directional soliton spectral tunneling effects is possible. Moreover, we propose a mid-infrared soliton self-compression to the generation of few-cycle ultrashort pulses, in a bulk of quadratic nonlinear crystals in contrast to optical fibers or cubic nonlinear media, which could contribute to the community with a simple and flexible method to experimental implementations.

Resonant radiation from oscillating higher order solitons

We present radiation mechanism exhibited by a higher order soliton. In a course of its evolution the higher-order soliton emits polychromatic radiation resulting in formation of multipeak frequency comb-like spectral band. The shape and spectral position of this band can be effectively controlled by the relative strength of the third order dispersion. An analytical description is corroborated by numerical simulations. It is shown that for longer pulses the described effect persists also under the action of higher order perturbations such as Raman and self-steepening.

Bouncing of a dispersive wave in a solitonic cage

We report the experimental observation of a weak dispersive wave trapped within a cage formed by two solitons in an optical fiber. We show that the dispersive wave bouncing is accompanied by a back-and-forth wavelength conversion of the probe to an idler wave. Additionally, we observed the destruction of the soliton cage when the dispersive wave power is increased, leading to the collision of the solitons.

Stable radiating gap solitons and their resonant interactions with dispersive waves in systems with a parametric pump

We study the formation of gap solitons in the presence of a parametric pump. It is shown that a parametric pump can stabilize stationary solitons continuously emitting dispersive waves. The resonant interactions of the radiation and the solitons are studied and it is shown that the solitons can be effectively controlled by the radiation. In particular it is shown that the solitons can collide or get pinned to inhomogeneities due to the interactions mediated by the resonant radiation.

Nonlinear optics of fibre event horizons

The nonlinear interaction of light in an optical fibre can mimic the physics at an event horizon. This analogue arises when a weak probe wave is unable to pass through an intense soliton, despite propagating at a different velocity. To date, these dynamics have been described in the time domain in terms of a soliton-induced refractive index barrier that modifies the velocity of the probe. Here we complete the physical description of fibre-optic event horizons by presenting a full frequency-domain description in terms of cascaded four-wave mixing between discrete single-frequency fields, and experimentally demonstrate signature frequency shifts using continuous wave lasers. Our description is confirmed by the remarkable agreement with experiments performed in the continuum limit, reached using ultrafast lasers. We anticipate that clarifying the description of fibre event horizons will significantly impact on the description of horizon dynamics and soliton interactions in photonics and other systems.

Temporal cloaking with accelerating wave packets

We theoretically propose a temporal cloaking scheme based on accelerating wave packets. A part of a monochromatic light wave is endowed with a discontinuous nonlinear frequency chirp, so that two opposite accelerating caustics are created in space-time as the different frequency components propagate in the presence of dispersion. The two caustics open a biconvex time gap that contains negligible optical energy, thus concealing the enclosed events. In contrast to previous temporal cloaking schemes, where light propagates successively through two different media with opposite dispersions, accelerating wave packets open and close the cloaked time window continuously in a single dispersive medium. In addition, biconvex time gaps can be tailored into arbitrary shapes and offer a larger suppression of intensity compared with their rhombic counterparts.

Tuning resonant interaction of orthogonally polarized solitons and dispersive waves with the soliton power

We demonstrate that the relatively small power induced changes in the soliton wavenumber comparable with splitting of the effective indexes of the orthogonally polarized waveguide modes result in significant changes of the efficiency of the interaction between solitons and dispersive waves and can be used to control energy transfer between the soliton and newly generated waves and to delay or accelerate solitons.

Supercontinuum generation by multiple scatterings at a group velocity horizon

A new scheme for supercontinuum generation covering more than one octave and exhibiting extraordinary high coherence properties has recently been proposed [Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 233901 (2013)]. The scheme is based on two-pulse collision at a group velocity horizon between a dispersive wave and a soliton. Here we demonstrate that the same scheme can be exploited for the generation of supercontinua encompassing the entire transparency region of fused silica, ranging from 300 to 2300nm. At this bandwidth extension, the Raman effect becomes detrimental, yet may be compensated by using a cascaded collision process. Consequently, the high degree of coherence does not degrade even in this extreme scenario.

Generation of tightly compressed solitons with a tunable frequency shift in Raman-free fibers

Optimization of the compression of input N-solitons into robust ultra-narrow fundamental solitons, with a tunable up- or downshifted frequency, is proposed in photonic crystal fibers free of the Raman effect. Due to the absence of the Raman self-frequency shift, these fundamental solitons continue propagation, maintaining the acquired frequency, once separated from the input N soliton's temporal slot. A universal optimal value of the relative strength of the third-order dispersion is found, providing the strongest compression of the fundamental soliton is found. It depends only on the order of the injected N-soliton. The largest compression degree significantly exceeds the analytical prediction supplied by the Satsuma-Yajima formula. The mechanism behind this effect, which remains valid in the presence of the self-steepening, is explained.

Trapping of light in solitonic cavities and its role in the supercontinuum generation

We demonstrate that the fission of higher-order N-solitons with a subsequent ejection of fundamental quasi-solitons creates cavities formed by a pair of solitary waves with dispersive light trapped between them. As a result of multiple reflections of the trapped light from the bounding solitons which act as mirrors, they bend their trajectories and collide. In the spectral domain, the two solitons receive blue and red wavelength shifts, and the spectrum of the trapped light alters as well. This phenomenon strongly affects spectral characteristics of the generated supercontinuum. Consideration of the system's parameters which affect the creation of the cavity reveals possibilities of predicting and controlling soliton-soliton collisions induced by multiple reflections of the trapped light.