CRYSTALLINE MATERIALS Introduction Physical Properties Optical Properties Mechanical Properties Thermal Properties Magnetooptic Properties Electrooptic Properties Elastooptic Properties Nonlinear Optical Properties GLASSES Introduction Commercial Optical Glasses Specialty Optical Glasses Fused Silica Fluoride Glasses Chalcogenide Glasses Magnetooptic Properties Electrooptic Properties Elastooptic Properties Nonlinear Optical Properties Special Glasses POLYMERIC MATERIALS Optical Plastics Index of Refraction Nonlinear Optical Properties Thermal Properties Engineering Data METALS Physical Properties of Selected Metals Optical Properties Mechanical Properties Thermal Properties Mirror Substrate Materials LIQUIDS Introduction Water Physical Properties of Selected Liquids Index of Refraction Nonlinear Optical Properties Magnetooptic Properties Commercial Optical Liquids GASES Introduction Physical Properties of Selected Gases Index of Refraction Nonlinear Optical Properties Magnetooptic Properties Atomic Resonance Filters APPENDICES Safe Handling of Optical Materials Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Mineralogical or Common Names for Optical Materials Abbreviations for Methods of Preparing Optical Materials and Thin Films Fundamental Physical Constants Units and Conversion Factors

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Handbook of Optical Materials

Dark optical solitons: physics and applications

We show that a nonlinear array of coupled waveguides can exhibit discrete self-focusing that in the continuum approximation obeys the so-called nonlinear Schrodinger equation. This process has much in common with the biophysical model of Davydov.

Discrete self-focusing in nonlinear arrays of coupled waveguides.

Spatial solitons, beams that do not spread owing to diffraction when they propagate, have been demonstrated to exist by virtue of a variety of nonlinear self-trapping mechanisms. Despite the diversity of these mechanisms, many of the features of soliton interactions and collisions are universal. Spatial solitons exhibit a richness of phenomena not found with temporal solitons in fibers, including effects such as fusion, fission, annihilation, and stable orbiting in three dimensions. Here the current state of knowledge on spatial soliton interactions is reviewed.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/286/5444/1518.full.pdf

Optical Spatial Solitons and Their Interactions: Universality and Diversity.

In the course of the past several years, a new level of understanding has been achieved about conditions for the existence, stability, and generation of spatiotemporal optical solitons, which are nondiffracting and nondispersing wavepackets propagating in nonlinear optical media. Experimentally, effectively two-dimensional (2D) spatiotemporal solitons that overcome diffraction in one transverse spatial dimension have been created in quadratic nonlinear media. With regard to the theory, fundamentally new features of light pulses that self-trap in one or two transverse spatial dimensions and do not spread out in time, when propagating in various optical media, were thoroughly investigated in models with various nonlinearities. Stable vorticity-carrying spatiotemporal solitons have been predicted too, in media with competing nonlinearities (quadratic–cubic or cubic–quintic). This article offers an up-to-date survey of experimental and theoretical results in this field. Both achievements and outstanding difficulties are reviewed, and open problems are highlighted. Also briefly described are recent predictions for stable 2D and 3D solitons in Bose–Einstein condensates supported by full or low-dimensional optical lattices.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1464-4266/7/5/R02/pdf

Spatiotemporal optical solitons

We report the observation of spatial optical solitons due to the Kerr nonlinearity in a planar glass waveguide and present measurements of the nonlinear response obtained by placing a pinhole at the output of the waveguide. For input intensities greater than that required for the fundamental soliton, we observe breakup of the output owing to the effect of two-photon absorption.

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Observation of spatial optical solitons in a nonlinear glass waveguide

We report the first demonstration of a nonlinear coupler switch capable of substantially complete all‐optical switching at subpicosecond rates with no light‐induced thermal effects.

Ultrafast all-optical switching in a dual-core fiber nonlinear coupler

We report the experimental observation of interaction forces between two fundamental spatial optical solitons in a nonlinear glass waveguide. Both attraction and repulsion were observed, depending on the relative phase between the solitons.

https://engineering.purdue.edu/~fsoptics/articles/Experimental_Observation-Aitchison.pdf

Experimental observation of spatial soliton interactions

We report experimental studies of spatial optical solitons in a nonlinear glass waveguide. Spatial solitons are self-trapped beams that propagate without diffraction. We demonstrate the formation of spatial solitons, and we investigate interactions between them. At high intensities two-photon absorption is observed to lead to the breakup of solitons. A beam propagation method is used to simulate the experimental conditions numerically, and the results agree well with experiment.

Spatial optical solitons in planar glass waveguides

We report measurements of the two‐photon absorption coefficient of GaAs optical waveguide structures at 1.06 μm. We show that for pulse lengths longer than ∼1 ps, light‐induced index changes sufficient to induce all‐optical switching will be predominantly due to carriers generated by two‐photon absorption. These results allow us to predict limitations for ultrafast all‐optical GaAs devices.

M. K. Oliver

Papers

Observation of spatial optical solitons in a nonlinear glass waveguide

Ultrafast all-optical switching in a dual-core fiber nonlinear coupler

Experimental observation of spatial soliton interactions

Spatial optical solitons in planar glass waveguides

Role of two‐photon absorption in ultrafast semiconductor optical switching devices