Temporal optical solitons have been the subject of intense research due to their intriguing physics and applications in ultrafast optics and supercontinuum generation. Conventional bright optical solitons result from the interaction of anomalous group-velocity dispersion and self-phase modulation. Here we report the discovery of an entirely new class of bright solitons arising purely from the interaction of negative fourth-order dispersion and self-phase modulation, which can occur even for normal group-velocity dispersion. We provide experimental and numerical evidence of shape-preserving propagation and flat temporal phase for the fundamental pure-quartic soliton and periodically modulated propagation for the higher-order pure-quartic solitons. Using analytic theory, we derive the approximate shape of the fundamental pure-quartic soliton exhibiting excellent agreement with our experimental observations. Our discovery, enabled by the unique dispersion of photonic crystal waveguides, could find applications in communications and ultrafast lasers.
Taiyuan Normal University（太原师范学院）；Shanxi Key Laboratory for Intelligent Optimization Computing and Blockchain Technology, Taiyuan Normal University（太原师范学院山西省智能优化计算与区块链技术重点实验室）；Horia Hulubei National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering（霍里亚·胡卢贝伊核物理与工程国家研究所）；Universidad de Tarapacá（塔拉帕卡大学）；Tel Aviv University（特拉维夫大学）
Florida State University（佛罗里达州立大学）；University of Massachusetts at Amherst（马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校）；Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology（冲绳科学技术大学院大学）；University of Central Florida（中佛罗里达大学）
Flat-top solitons and anomalous interactions in media with even-order dispersions and competing nonlinearities
Taiyuan Normal University（太原师范学院）；Shanxi Key Laboratory for Intelligent Optimization Computing and Blockchain Technology, Taiyuan Normal University（山西智能优化计算与区块链技术重点实验室）；Institute of Computational and Applied Physics, Taiyuan Normal University（太原师范大学计算与应用物理研究所）；Horia Hulubei National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering（霍里亚·胡利贝国家物理与核工程研究所）；Tel Aviv University（特拉维夫大学）；Universidad de Tarapacá（塔拉帕卡大学）
Quantum Dispersive Waves and Multimode Squeezing in Pure-Kerr Parametrically Driven Cavity Solitons
Institute for Physical Science and Technology, University of Maryland（马里兰大学物理科学与技术研究所）；Department of Physics, University of Maryland（马里兰大学物理系）；Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland（马里兰大学机械工程系）；University of Maryland Baltimore County（马里兰大学巴尔的摩县分校）；National Quantum Laboratory (QLab) at Maryland（马里兰国家量子实验室）
