Visualizing nonlinear dynamics in optical waveguides

Anatoly Efimov, A. J. Taylor, F. G. Omenetto, J. C. Knight, A. V. Yulin, F. Biancalana, V. V.R.K. Kumar, N. Y. Joly, P. St J. Russell, D. V. Skryabin

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

2 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

Optical waveguides provide rich environment for various nonlinear processes thanks to the long interaction lengths, sustained high intensities and diverse dispersion regimes. Nonlinear and dispersion properties of fibers and waveguides can be widely controlled through microstructuring resulting in a broad family of photonic crystal and bandgap waveguides. This flexibility can be used to realize previously impossible nonlinear interaction regimes for solitons and quasi-continuous waves. The dynamics of femtosecond optical pulses in such dispersive and nonlinear materials provide a truly challenging measurement task, but reward us with most spectacular images of nonlinear wave interactions. We visualized the dynamics of solitons and continua in several such structures using cross-correlation frequency-resolved optical gating, the technique which provides experimentally the most complete information about an optical pulse. These detailed time and frequency-resolved measurements infinitely surpass the simple spectral measurements or even the time axis-symmetric FROG spectrograms. Soliton dynamics in the vicinity of the second zero-dispersion point of a silica PC fiber, Cherenkov continuum generation, stabilization against the Raman self-frequency shift and other resonant interactions as well as the supercontinuum generation in soft-glass fibers were characterized. Recent theoretical studies were brought about to develop a fundamental understanding of these resonant interactions and excellent agreement was found.

Original languageEnglish
Article number27
Pages (from-to)160-172
Number of pages13
JournalProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Volume5714
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 21 Mar 2005
EventCommercial and Biomedical Applications of Ultrafast Lasers V - San Jose, CA, USA United States
Duration: 24 Jan 200527 Jan 2005

Keywords

  • Cross-correlation frequency-resolved optical gating
  • Photonic crystal fiber
  • Soliton
  • Supercontinuum

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Applied Mathematics
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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