Self-trapping of polychromatic light in nonlinear periodic photonic structures

Kristian Motzek,Andrey A Sukhorukov,Yuri S Kivshar

doi:10.1364/oe.14.009873

Abstract

We study dynamical reshaping of polychromatic beams due to collective nonlinear self-action of multiple-frequency components in periodic and semi-infinite photonic lattices and predict the formation of polychromatic gap solitons and polychromatic surface solitons due to light localization in spectral gaps. We show that the self-trapping efficiency and structure of emerging polychromatic solitons depend on the input spectrum due to the lattice-enhanced dispersion, including the effect of crossover from localization to diffraction in media with defocusing nonlinearity.

Highlights

We study dynamical reshaping of polychromatic beams due to collective nonlinear self-action of multiple-frequency components in periodic photonic lattices and predict the formation of polychromatic discrete solitons facilitated by localization of light in spectral gaps
The fundamental physics of periodic photonic structures is governed by the wave scattering from periodic modulations of the refractive index and subsequent wave interference
In this Letter we address an important question of how the periodicity-enhanced sensitivity of diffraction upon wavelength influences nonlinear self-action of polychromatic light

Summary

Introduction

We study dynamical reshaping of polychromatic beams due to collective nonlinear self-action of multiple-frequency components in periodic photonic lattices and predict the formation of polychromatic discrete solitons facilitated by localization of light in spectral gaps. In this Letter we address an important question of how the periodicity-enhanced sensitivity of diffraction upon wavelength influences nonlinear self-action of polychromatic light. We show that interaction between multiplefrequency components of an optical beam can lead to a collective self-trapping effect and polychromatic solitons, where spatial diffraction is suppressed simultaneously in a broad spectral region.

Results

Conclusion