Following the concept of $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric couplers, we propose a linearly coupled system of nonlinear waveguides, made of positive- and negative-index materials, which carry, respectively, gain and loss. We report novel bi- and multi-stability states pertaining to transmitted and reflective intensities, which are controlled by the ratio of the gain and loss coefficients, and phase mismatch between the waveguides. These states offer transmission regimes with extremely low threshold intensities for transitions between coexisting states, and very large amplification ratio between the input and output intensities leading to an efficient way of controlling light with light.
We produce transmission and reflection spectra of the anti-directional coupler (ADC) composed of linearly-coupled positive- and negative-refractive-index arms, with intrinsic Kerr nonlinearity. Both reflection and transmission feature two highly amplified peaks at two distinct wavelengths in a certain range of values of the gain, making it possible to design a wavelength-selective mode-amplification system. We also predict that a blend of gain and loss in suitable proportions can robustly enhance reflection spectra which are detrimentally affected by the attenuation, in addition to causing red…
We consider the coupled electromagnetic waves propagating in a nonlinear coupler and in nonlinear waveguide array, which consists of alternating waveguides of positive and negative refraction indexes. The forward wave and backward wave interaction is realized in these devices. Gap solitons in a nonlinear oppositely directional coupler with one channel or both channels fabricated from nonlinear medium having negative refraction index are discussed. Generalization of the usually waveguide array is zigzag array. Due to zigzag configuration there are interactions between both nearest and next near…
We put forward the concept of reconfigurable structures optically induced by mutually incoherent nondiffracting Bessel beams in Kerr-type nonlinear media. We address collinear couplers and X-junctions, and show how the switching properties of such structures can be tuned by varying the intensity of the Bessel beams.
Rapid development of Fabry-Perot quantum cascade laser frequency combs has converted them from laboratory devices to key components of next-generation fast molecular spectrometers. Recently, free-running ring quantum cascade lasers allowed generation of new frequency comb states induced by phase turbulence. In absence of efficient light outcoupling, ring quantum cascade lasers are not suited for applications as they are limited in their power output to microwatt levels. Here we demonstrate electrically pumped ring quantum cascade lasers with integrated active directional couplers. These device…
We consider light tunneling inhibition in periodic array of optical couplers due to the specially designed longitudinal and transverse modulation of the refractive index. We show that local out-of-phase longitudinal modulation of refractive index in channels of directional couplers in combination with the global refractive index modulation between adjacent couplers allow simultaneous suppression of both local and global energy tunneling inside each coupler and between adjacent couplers. This enables localization of light in single waveguide despite the remarkable difference of corresponding lo…
The Zeno effect is investigated for soliton type pulses in a nonlinear directional coupler with dissipation. The effect consists in increase of the coupler transparency with increase of the dissipative losses in one of the arms. It is shown that localized dissipation can lead to switching of solitons between the arms. Power losses accompanying the switching can be fully compensated by using a combination of dissipative and active (in particular, parity-time -symmetric) segments.
In this paper we study the interaction of Gaussian solitons in a dispersive and nonlinear media with log-law nonlinearity. The model is described by the coupled logarithmic nonlinear Schrödinger equations, which is a nonintegrable system that allows the observation of a very rich scenario in the collision patterns. By employing a variational approach and direct numerical simulations, we observe a fractal-scattering phenomenon from the exit velocities of each soliton as a function of the input velocities. Furthermore, we introduce a linearization model to identify the position of the reflection…
We theoretically investigate the solitary waves and their switching dynamics in a $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric directional fiber coupler, exhibiting Kerr nonlinearity, by developing a variational analysis. We analyze the fundamental switching characteristics of the $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric Kerr coupler in the picosecond timescale by considering the coupled-mode equation for the unperturbed nonlinear Schrödinger equation, which we compare to its conventional counterpart. The impacts of higher-order perturbations (intrapulse Raman scattering, self-steepening, and third-order dispersion) are investig…
We address nonlinear signal switching between two low-index defect channels induced in periodic optical lattices. In contrast to conventional directional couplers, where the guiding mechanism is total internal reflection or refraction, in such Bragg-type coupler, the guidance is of a photonic-bandgap origin. The coupling length in the low-index coupler is controlled by the lattice parameters and by the channel spacing. In the nonlinear regime the Bragg-type coupler behaves as an all-optical switch, exhibiting a remarkable difference of switching power for focusing versus defocusing nonlinearit…
Dynamics of symmetric and antisymmetric 2-solitons and 3-solitons is studied in the model of the nonlinear dual-core coupler and its PT-symmetric version. Regions of the convergence of the injected perturbed symmetric and antisymmetric N-solitons into symmetric and asymmetric quasi-solitons are found. In the PT-symmetric system, with the balanced gain and loss acting in the two cores, borders of the stability against the blowup are identified. Notably, in all the cases the stability regions are larger for antisymmetric 2-soliton inputs than for their symmetric counterparts, on the contrary to …
Families of analytical solutions are found for symmetric and antisymmetric solitons in the dual-core system with the Kerr nonlinearity and PT-balanced gain and loss. The crucial issue is stability of the solitons. A stability region is obtained in an analytical form, and verified by simulations, for the PT-symmetric solitons. For the antisymmetric ones, the stability border is found in a numerical form. Moving solitons of both types collide elastically. The two soliton species merge into one in the "supersymmetric" case, with equal coefficients of the gain, loss and inter-core coupling. These …
We study effects of nonlocality of the cubic self-focusing nonlinearity on the stability and symmetry-breaking bifurcation (SBB) of solitons in the model of a planar dual-core optical waveg- uide with nonlocal (thermal) nonlinearity. In comparison with the well-known coupled systems with the local nonlinearity, the present setting is affected by the competition of different spatial scales, viz., the coupling length and correlation radius of the nonlocality, $\sqrt{d}$. By means of numer- ical methods and variational approximation (VA, which is relevant for small d), we find that, with the incr…
We report a detailed study on soliton steering dynamics in a parity-time-symmetric directional coupler in the femtosecond domain, which requires incorporation of higher-order perturbative effects such as third-order and fourth-order dispersions, self-steepening, and intrapulse Raman scattering. With a high gain/loss, the combination of all these effects is found to stabilize the soliton pulse evolution in the coupler from the chaotic behavior of unperturbed evolution. This work demonstrates that efficient soliton steering can be achieved at very low critical power and a relatively higher gain/…
We study nonlinear modes of dual-core photonic crystal fiber couplers made of a material with the focusing Kerr nonlinearity. We find numerically the profiles of symmetric, antisymmetric, and asymmetric nonlinear modes, and analyze all-optical switching based on instability of the symmetric mode. We also describe elliptic spatial solitons controlled by the waveguide boundaries.
We introduce an optical system (a coupler) obeying parity-time ($PT$) symmetry with odd-time reversal, $T^2=-1$. It is implemented with two birefringent waveguides embedded in an anti-$PT$-symmetric medium. The system possesses properties which are untypical for most physical systems with the conventional even-time reversal. Having symmetry-protected degeneracy of the linear modes, the coupler allows for realization of a coherent switch operating with a superposition of binary states which are distinguished by their polarizations. When a Kerr nonlinearity is taken into account, each linear sta…
We investigate modulational instability (MI) in asymmetric dual-core nonlinear directional couplers incorporating the effects of the differences in effective mode areas and group velocity dispersions, as well as phase- and group-velocity mismatches. Using coupled-mode equations for this system, we identify MI conditions from the linearization with respect to small perturbations. First, we compare the MI spectra of the asymmetric system and its symmetric counterpart in the case of the anomalous group-velocity dispersion (GVD). In particular, it is demonstrated that the increase of the inter-cor…
The influence of a saturable nonlinearity on the modulation instability in oppositely directed coupler in the presence of high-order effects is investigated. By using the standard linear stability analysis, we obtain the instability gain that exhibits a significant change in the bands of instability due to the effects of a saturable nonlinearity. We also show that even in the presence of saturation there is no change in instability gain when we compare the results obtained for both channels not influenced by self-steepening effect or for both channels influenced by self-steepening effect but o…
We study effects of the spontaneous symmetry-breaking (SSB) in solitons built of the dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), trapped in a dual-core system with the dipole-dipole interactions (DDIs) and hopping between the cores. Two realizations of such a matter-wave coupler are introduced, weakly- and strongly-coupled. The former one in based on two parallel pipe-shaped traps, while the latter one is represented by a single pipe sliced by an external field into parallel layers. The dipoles are oriented along axes of the pipes. In these systems, the dual-core solitons feature the SSB of the su…
