Short-pulse splitting and pulse collisions in dispersive nonlinear media

Y. B. Band, Marek Trippenbach

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

Abstract

We have developed a method to precisely propagate short optical pulses through dispersive media with a self-focusing χ(3) Kerr-type nonlinear polarization. Above the critical cw self-focusing power, onset of pulse splitting into pulselets separated in time occurs, and for a certain regime of parameters a cyclic series of pulse splitting (into pulselets separated in time) and pulse recombination occurs for diffraction length smaller than dispersion length. At higher power, another threshold for non-cyclic temporal and spatial pulse splitting is manifest. Self-steepening and self-frequency shifting affect pulse propagation too. We use our formulation to calculate the dynamics of collisions of two pulses in nonlinear optical media, and show how the collision can give rise to pulse splitting. We also investigate the effects of saturation of the nonlinearity on the phenomenon of pulse splitting and pulse collision dynamics.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)141-151
Number of pages11
JournalProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Volume3609
StatePublished - 1 Jan 1999
EventProceedings of the 1999 Optical Pulse and Beam Propagation - San Jose, CA, USA
Duration: 27 Jan 199928 Jan 1999

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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