Bright spatial solitons in controlled negative phase metamaterials

Abstract

A fundamental discussion of linearly polarised bright spatial soliton beams that are localised in a planar waveguide is developed in a special way that leads to the introduction of nonlinear diffraction. It is emphasised, throughout, that this kind of diffraction dominates influences from non-paraxiality and typical quintic contributions to the nonlinearity. A major discussion is given that is based upon double-negative metamaterials and makes contact with previous literature. Both homogeneous and inhomogeneous diffraction-managed, planar waveguides are investigated with a view to examining the behaviour of narrow beam production and propagation. It is also shown that a Voigt configuration of an externally applied magnetic field can be used to create significant magnetooptic control over spatial soliton propagation in asymmetric waveguides. Both this type of control and diffraction-management lie at the heart of the numerical simulations given here. In all of these cases it is shown that nonlinear diffraction has a very important influence and will create an impact upon future applications.