Optical Fibers and Solitons

Abstract

This chapter focuses on developing an analysis of soliton propagation in nonlinear optical fibers. It outlines optical fibers, their structure and the effects of loss and dispersion on them. The chapter concerns nonlinear propagation in an optical fiber. To do this, it highlights two characteristics: dispersion and non‐linearity, whose conjugation following a careful balance conditions the soliton's appearance. Oscillation and autofocalization are then reviewed. The chapter tackles both results and interpretation. The physical mechanism for forming solitons is analyzed, before the different methods of increasing solitons' size and studying the benefit of modulation instability in the formation of soliton streams are undertaken. The soliton is a relatively recent discovery in theoretical physics and it has now become much more of an intuitive concept than a strictly mathematical idea. It would be sensible to introduce the concept of the soliton by examining the nonlinear Schrodinger equation known to possess soliton solutions.