Modulational instability in a photorefractive medium is studied in the presence of two wave mixing. We then propose and derive a model for forward four wave mixing in the photorefractive medium and investigate the modulational instability induced by four wave mixing effects. By using the standard linear stability analysis the instability gain is obtained. In both the cases, the geometry is such that the effect of self-phase-modulation self-focusing is suppressed and only the holographic focusing nonlinearity is acting.
The theory of optical dispersive shocks generated in propagation of light beams through photorefractive media is developed. Full one-dimensional analytical theory based on the Whitham modulation approach is given for the simplest case of sharp step-like initial discontinuity in a beam with one-dimensional strip-like geometry. This approach is confirmed by numerical simulations which are extended also to beams with cylindrical symmetry. The theory explains recent experiments where such dispersive shock waves have been observed.
We generate experimentally different types of two-dimensional self-trapped photonic lattices in a photorefractive medium and analyze the induced refractive index change using two different methods. One method gives the first experimental Fourier space analysis of both linear and nonlinear self-trapped photonic lattices with periodic phase modulation using partially spatially incoherent multi-band excitation of the lattice modes. The other method utilizes the waveguiding properties of the lattice to achieve a real space analysis of the induced refractive index change. The results of both method…
The theory of nonlinear diffraction of intensive light beams propagating through photorefractive media is developed. Diffraction occurs on a reflecting wire embedded in the nonlinear medium at relatively small angle with respect to the direction of the beam propagation. It is shown that this process is analogous to the generation of waves by a flow of a superfluid past an obstacle. The ``equation of state'' of such a superfluid is determined by the nonlinear properties of the medium. On the basis of this hydrodynamic analogy, the notion of the ``Mach number'' is introduced where the transverse…
We study, both theoretically and experimentally, the transverse modulational instability of spatial stripe solitons in anisotropic nonlocal photorefractive media. We demonstrate that the instability scenarios depend strongly on the stripe orientation, but the anisotropy-induced features are largely suppressed for spatial solitons created by self-trapping of partially incoherent light.
We present an overview of recent advances in the understanding of optical beams in nonlinear media with a spatially nonlocal nonlinear response. We discuss the impact of nonlocality on the modulational instability of plane waves, the collapse of finite-size beams, and the formation and interaction of spatial solitons.
We study modulational instability (MI) of plane waves in nonlocal nonlinear Kerr media. For a focusing nonlinearity we show that, although the nonlocality tends to suppress MI, it can never remove it completely, irrespectively of the particular profile of the nonlocal response function. For a defocusing nonlinearity the stability properties depend sensitively on the response function profile: for a smooth profile (e.g., a Gaussian) plane waves are always stable, but MI may occur for a rectangular response. We also find that the reduced model for a weak nonlocality predicts MI in defocusing med…
As the formation of spatial optical solitons in photorefractive media is governed by modification of the refractive index every single solitons in complex configurations of solitons can act as a single waveguide for other light beams. In this article we demonstrate guiding of amplitude modulated beams in complex configurations of photorefractive solitons carrying information and we analyze the received signal in the kHz frequency range. The possibility of data transmission combined with waveguide couplers opens the route to all-optical networks.
Modulational instability of continuous waves in nonlocal focusing and defocusing Kerr media with stochastically varying diffraction (dispersion) and nonlinearity coefficients is studied both analytically and numerically. It is shown that nonlocality with the sign-definite Fourier images of the medium response functions suppresses considerably the growth rate peak and bandwidth of instability caused by stochasticity. Contrary, nonlocality can enhance modulational instability growth for a response function with negative-sign bands.
The modulational instability (MI) of plane waves in nonlocal Kerr media is studied for a general, localized, response function. It is shown that there always exists a finite number of well-separated MI gain bands, with each of them characterised by a unique maximal growth rate. This is a general property and is demonstrated here for the Gaussian, exponential, and rectangular response functions. In case of a focusing nonlinearity it is shown that although the nonlocality tends to suppress MI, it can never remove it completely, irrespectively of the particular shape of the response function. For…
We address the impact of asymmetric nonlocal diffusion nonlinearity on the properties of gap solitons supported by photorefractive crystal with an imprinted optical lattice. We reveal how the asymmetric nonlocal response alters the domains of existence and the stability of solitons originating from different gaps. We find that in such media gap solitons cease to exist above a threshold of the nonlocality degree. We discuss how the interplay between nonlocality and lattice strength modifies the gap soliton mobility.
The dynamics of two pairs of counter-propagating waves in two-component media is considered within the framework of two generally nonintegrable coupled Sine-Gordon equations. We consider the dynamics of weakly nonlinear wave packets, and using an asymptotic multiple-scales expansion we obtain a suite of evolution equations to describe energy exchange between the two components of the system. Depending on the wave packet length-scale vis-a-vis the wave amplitude scale, these evolution equations are either four non-dispersive and nonlinearly coupled envelope equations, or four non-locally couple…
We develop the analytical method of field momenta for analyzing the dynamics of optical vector solitons in photorefractive nonlinear media. First, we derive the effective evolution equations for the parameters of multi-component solitons composed of incoherently coupled beams and investigate the soliton internal oscillations associated with the relative motion of the soliton components. Then, we apply this method for analyzing the vector soliton scattering by a nonlinear interface. In particular, we show that a vector soliton can be reflected, transmitted, captured, or split into separate comp…
We study evolution of pulses propagating through focusing nonlinear media. Small disturbance on the smooth initial non-uniform background leads to formation of the region of strong nonlinear oscillations. We develop here an asymptotic method for finding the law of motion of the front of this region. The method is applied to the focusing nonlinear Schroedinger equation for the particular cases of Talanov and Akhmanov-Sukhorukov-Khokhlov initial distributions with zero initial phase. The approximate analytical results agree well with the exact numerical solutions for these two problems.
We investigate analytically, numerically, and experimentally the modulational instability in a layered, cubically-nonlinear (Kerr) optical medium that consists of alternating layers of glass and air. We model this setting using a nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation with a piecewise constant nonlinearity coefficient and conduct a theoretical analysis of its linear stability, obtaining a Kronig-Penney equation whose forbidden bands correspond to the modulationally unstable regimes. We find very good {\it quantitative} agreement between the theoretical analysis of the Kronig-Penney equation, num…
We analyze theoretically and generate experimentally two-dimensional nonlinear periodic lattices in a photorefractive medium. We demonstrate that the light-induced periodically modulated nonlinear refractive index is highly anisotropic and nonlocal, and it depends on the lattice orientation relative to the crystal axis. We discuss stability of such induced photonic structures and their guiding properties.
With reference to spatially non-local nematic liquid crystals, we develop a theory of optical spatial solitons and modulational instability in anisotropic media with arbitrarily large birefringence. Asymmetric spatial profiles and multivalued features are predicted for self-localized light versus walk-off angle. The results hold valid for generic self-focusing birefringent media and apply to large angle steering of individual and multiple self-trapped optical beams.
We discuss the modulational instability (MI) of plane waves in nonlocal Kerr media with the sine-oscillation response function, which can model the nematic liquid crystal with negative dielectric anisotropy. The results in the framework of the nonlocal nonlinear Schrödinger equation show that the MI in this system has two extraordinary properties. First, MI exists in both cases of negative Kerr coefficient $(n_{2}<0)$ and positive Kerr coefficient $(n_{2}>0)$. Second, the maximum gain of MI is not affected by the intensity of the plane wave, and the wave number %spatial frequency of the maximu…
We study composite spatial optical solitons supported by two-wave mutual focusing induced by cross-phase modulation in Kerr-like nonlinear media. We find the families of both single- and two-hump solitons and discuss their properties and stability. We also reveal remarkable similarities between recently predicted holographic solitons in photorefractive media and parametric solitons in quadratic nonlinear crystals.
We address spectral tunneling of walking spatial solitons in photorefractive media with nonlocal diffusion of the nonlinear response and an imprinted shallow optical lattice. In contrast to materials with local nonlinearities, where solitons travelling across the lattice close to the Bragg angle suffer large radiative losses, in photorefractive media with diffusion nonlinearity resulting in self-bending solitons survive when their propagation angle approaches and even exceeds the Bragg angle. In the spatial frequency domain this effect can be considered as tunneling through the band of spatial…
We present a detailed analysis of the modulational instability (MI) of ground-state bright solitary solutions of two incoherently coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations. Varying the relative strength of cross-phase and self-phase effects we show existence and origin of four branches of MI of the two-wave solitary solutions. We give a physical interpretation of our results in terms of the group velocity dispersion (GVD) induced polarization dynamics of spatial solitary waves. In particular, we show that in media with normal GVD spatial symmetry breaking changes to polarization symmetry breakin…
We study families of solitons in a two-dimensional (2D) model of the light transmission through a photorefractive medium equipped with a (quasi-)one-dimensional photonic lattice. The soliton families are bounded from below by finite minimum values of the peak and total power. Narrow solitons have a single maximum, while broader ones feature side lobes. Stability of the solitons is checked by direct simulations. The solitons can be set in motion across the lattice (actually, made tilted in the spatial domain), provided that the respective boost parameter does not exceed a critical value. Collis…
A novel statistical approach based on the Wigner transform is proposed for the description of partially incoherent optical wave dynamics in nonlinear media. An evolution equation for the Wigner transform is derived from a nonlinear Schrodinger equation with arbitrary nonlinearity. It is shown that random phase fluctuations of an incoherent plane wave lead to a Landau-like damping effect, which can stabilize the modulational instability. In the limit of the geometrical optics approximation, incoherent, localized, and stationary wave-fields are shown to exist for a wide class of nonlinear media.
We study two-component spatial optical solitons carrying an angular momentum and propagating in a self-focusing saturable nonlinear medium. When one of the components is small, such vector solitons can be viewed as a self-trapped vortex beam that guides either the fundamental or first-order guided mode, and they are classified as single- and double-vortex vector solitons. For such composite vortex beams, we demonstrate that a large-amplitude guided mode can stabilize the ring-like vortex beam which usually decays due to azimuthal modulational instability. We identify different types of these v…
The optomechanical coupling and transverse stability of a co-propagating monochromatic electromagnetic wave and mono-energetic beam of two-level atoms is investigated in the collisionless regime. The coupled dynamics are studied through a Landau stability analysis of the coupled gas- kinetic and paraxial wave equations, including the effect of the electronic nonlinearity. The resulting dispersion relation captures the interaction of kinetic and saturation effects and shows that for blue detuning the combined nonlinear interaction is unstable below a critical wavenumber which reduces to the res…
We analyze both theoretically and by means of numerical simulations the phenomena of filamentation and dynamical formation of self-guided nonlinear waves in media featuring competing cubic and quintic nonlinearities. We provide a theoretical description of recent experiments in terms of a linear stability analysis supported with simulations, showing the possibility of experimental observation of the modulational instability suppression of intense light pulses travelling across such nonlinear media. We also show a novel mechanism of indirect excitation of {\em light condensates} by means of coa…
The dynamics of fronts, or kinks, in dispersive media with gain and losses is considered. It is shown that the front parameters, such as the velocity and width, depend on initial conditions. This result is not typical for dissipative systems. For exponentially decreasing initial conditions, the relations for the front parameters are found. A presence of the global bifurcation, when a soliton solution is replaced by the front solution, is demonstrated. It is also shown that in order to observe fronts, the front velocity should be larger than the characteristic velocity of the modulational insta…
On the basis of the competing cubic-quintic nonlinearity model, stability (instability) of continuous waves in nonlocal random non-Kerr nonlinear media is studied analytically and numerically. Fluctuating media parameters are modeled by the Gaussian white noise. It is shown that for different response functions of a medium nonlocality suppresses, as a rule, both the growth rate peak and bandwidth of instability caused by random parameters. At the same time, for a special form of the response functions there can be an ''anomalous'' subjection of nonlocality to the instability development which …
We study experimentally the Bloch-wave instabilities in optically-induced lattices. We reveal two different instability scenarios associated with either the transverse modulational instability of a single Bloch wave, or the nonlinear inter-band coupling between different Bloch waves. These effects are compared with the transverse instability in homogeneous media, and it is shown that the periodic modulation of the refractive index greatly enhances the transverse instability.
We predict theoretically that surface of an optical lattice imprinted in defocusing nonlinear media can support shock, or kink waves. Such new surface waves contain a modulationally stable pedestal and are strongly localized at the edge of the optical lattice due to Bragg-type reflection. The kink steepness and localization degree can be controlled by the lattice depth. We found two types of kinks, which exhibit distinct stability properties for each finite gap in the lattice spectrum. Our findings open the way to experimental observation of optical surface kink waves.
We examine the evolution of a time-varying perturbation signal pumped into a mono-mode fiber in the anomalous dispersion regime. We analytically establish that the perturbation evolves into a conservative pattern of periodic pulses which structures and profiles share close similarity with the so-called soliton-crystal states recently observed in fiber media [see e.g. A. Haboucha et al., Phys. Rev. A\textbf{78}, 043806 (2008); D. Y. Tang et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{101}, 153904 (2008); F. Amrani et al., Opt. Express \textbf{19}, 13134 (2011)]. We derive mathematically and generate numerica…
Density-wave patterns in (quasi-) discrete media with local interactions are known to be unstable. We demonstrate that \emph{stable} double- and triple- period patterns (DPPs and TPPs), with respect to the period of the underlying lattice, exist in media with nonlocal nonlinearity. This is shown in detail for dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs), loaded into a deep one-dimensional (1D) optical lattice (OL), by means of analytical and numerical methods in the tight-binding limit. The patterns featuring multiple periodicities are generated by the modulational instability of the continuous-wa…
The performance of optical devices manufactured via laser micromachining on nonlinear transparent materials, relies usually on three main factors which are the characteristic laser parameters (i.e. the laser power, pulse duration and pulse repetition rate), characteristic properties of host materials (e.g. their chromatic dispersions, optical nonlinearities or self-focusing features, etc.) and the relative importance of physical processes such as the avalanche impact ionization, multiphoton ionization and electron-hole radiative recombination processes. These factors act in conjunction to impo…
Two-dimensional fractional discrete NLS equations: dispersion relations, rogue waves, fundamental and vortex solitons
KLMM, Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院数学与系统科学研究院）；School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学数学科学学院）；Department of Physical Electronics, School of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University（特拉维夫大学工程学院电气工程系物理电子学系）；Instituto de Alta Investigación, Universidad de Tarapacá（塔拉帕卡大学高等研究所）
