Free-carrier-induced soliton fission unveiled by in situ measurements in nanophotonic waveguides.

ABSTRACT: Solitons are localized waves formed by a balance of focusing and defocusing effects. These nonlinear waves exist in diverse forms of matter yet exhibit similar properties including stability, periodic recurrence and particle-like trajectories. One important property is soliton fission, a process by which an energetic higher-order soliton breaks apart due to dispersive or nonlinear perturbations. Here we demonstrate through both experiment and theory that nonlinear photocarrier generation can induce soliton fission. Using near-field measurements, we directly observe the nonlinear spatial and temporal evolution of optical pulses in situ in a nanophotonic semiconductor waveguide. We develop an analytic formalism describing the free-carrier dispersion (FCD) perturbation and show the experiment

SUBMITTER: Husko C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4835551 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature