Frankfurt 2006 – scientific programme
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Q: Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 45: Nichtlineare optische Effekte und Lichtquellen I
Q 45.5: Talk
Wednesday, March 15, 2006, 12:10–12:25, H14
Dynamics of counterpropagating spatial solitons in photorefractive crystals — •Sebastian Koke1, Philip Jander1, Till Frank2, and Cornelia Denz1 — 1Institut für Angewandte Physik, Corrensstr. 2/4, 48149 Münster, Germany — 2Institut für Theoretische Physik, Wilhelm-Klemm-Str. 9, 48149 Münster, Germany
Spatial optical solitons play a key role for the development of future adaptive optical communication devices. They occur when diffraction is compensated for an appropriate nonlinear variation of the refractive index, which can for example be achieved by means of the photorefractive nonlinearity.
In switching and coupling devices one will encounter not only copropagating but also counterpropagating solitons. In contrast to copropagating solitons which only show transient dynamics, counterpropagating solitons display rich temporal dynamics. This is due to a longitudinal instability mediated by feedback inherent in this configuration. Such dynamic behaviour depends on the length of the nonlinear medium and varies from non-oscillating to regular and irregular oscillations [1].
In this talk we present an in-depth investigation of irregular dynamics displayed by counterpropagating solitons in a photorefractive medium. In addition, we show experimental and numerical examples of controlling undesired oscillations by means of an additional periodic refractive index modulation.
[1] Ph. Jander, et al., Opt. Lett. 30, 750–752 (2005)