Optical spatial solitons: Historical perspectives

    Authors

    G. I. A. Stegeman; D. N. Christodoulides;M. Segev

    Comments

    Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

    Abbreviated Journal Title

    IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron.

    Keywords

    beam self-trapping; bright solitons; coherence; dark solitons; discrete; solitons; discrete systems; Kerr solitons; modulational instability; nonlinear optics; nonlinear optics in cavities; nonlinear waves; optical; bullets; photorefractives; photorefractivity; second harmonic; generation; solitons; soliton collisions; soliton interactions; spatial; solitons; PHOTOREFRACTIVE SCREENING SOLITONS; WAVE-GUIDE ARRAYS; NONLINEAR; DISPERSIVE MEDIA; SOLITARY WAVES; MULTIMODE SOLITONS; PULSES; DARK; PROPAGATION; GENERATION; BRIGHT; Engineering, Electrical & Electronic; Optics; Physics, Applied

    Abstract

    Optical spatial solitons are self-trapped optical beams that exist by virtue of the balance between diffraction and nonlinearity, They propagate and interact with one another while displaying properties that are normally associated with real particles, Solitons, in general, manifest themselves in a large variety of wave/particle systems in nature: practically in any system that possesses both dispersion (in time or space) and nonlinearity, Solitons have been identified in optics, plasmas, fluids, condensed matter, particle physics, and astrophysics. Yet over the past decade, the forefront of soliton research has shifted to optics, In this paper, we describe the historical evolution of spatial solitons from speculative creatures to one of the most fascinating features optics has to offer.

    Journal Title

    Ieee Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics

    Volume

    6

    Issue/Number

    6

    Publication Date

    1-1-2000

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    1419

    Last Page

    1427

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000167275600067

    ISSN

    1077-260X

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