Chapter 9 - Vector Solitons

Abstract

Vector soliton is a broad term that covers different types of multicomponent solitons. Two-component vector solitons can be spatial or temporal and form using two orthogonally polarized components of a single optical field or two fields of different frequencies but the same polarization. Vector solitons can be incoherently or coherent coupled. They can be incoherently coupled, in the sense that the coupling is phase insensitive. Another important class of vector solitons is associated with the coherent coupling among the optical fields; i.e., the coupling depends on relative phases of the interacting fields. Coherent interaction occurs when the nonlinear medium is weakly anisotropic or weakly birefringent. Coherently coupled vector solitons possess many properties that are different from the case of incoherent coupling. The concept of two-component vector solitons can be easily generalized to multicomponent vector solitons. Such temporal solitons can form, for example, when multi frequency composite optical pulses are transmitted over the same fiber in wavelength-division-multiplexed (WDM) channels of optical communication systems or abit-parallel-wavelength scheme is used for high-speed interconnect applications.