Modulational instability with higher-order dispersion and walk-off in Kerr media with cross-phase modulation

Abstract

We investigate the cross-phase-modulation-induced modulational instability (MI) of two co-propagating optical beams in the system of relaxing Kerr nonlinearity with the effect of higher-order dispersion (HOD) and walk-off effect. We identify and discuss the salient features of relaxation of nonlinear responses and HOD using suitable theoretical model. First, we analyzed the impact of HOD and walk-off on the MI spectrum and found both analytically and numerically that the MI exhibits alternate characteristics like the evolution of different spectral bands in addition to the conventional MI bands. The walk-off effects in the virtue of HOD not only consist of the conventional group velocity mismatch (GVM) but also the difference in third-order dispersion (TOD) of the two beams, and thereby significantly modify the dynamical behavior of the MI. We also consider the combined effect of relaxation of nonlinear response and the HOD effects, and we observe that any finite value of delay leads to the evolution of two unstable modes and thereby extends the range of unstable frequency; HOD on the other hand along with the walk-off effect brings other characteristic spectral bands. A detailed discussion about the various combinations of parameters and the relative competence of one over the other on the MI spectrum is presented. Thus the evolution of MI from cross-phase modulation in the system of relaxing Kerr nonlinearity is emphasized in detail and the influence of HOD and the walk-off effect are highlighted.