Soliton-induced relativistic-scattering and amplification
Abstract
Solitons are of fundamental importance in photonics due to applications in optical data transmission and also as a tool for investigating novel phenomena ranging from light generation at new frequencies and wave-trapping to rogue waves. Solitons are also moving scatterers: they generate refractive index perturbations moving at the speed of light. Here we found that such perturbations scatter light in an unusual way: they amplify light by the mixing of positive and negative frequencies, as we describe using a first Born approximation and numerical simulations. The simplest scenario in which these effects may be observed is within the initial stages of optical soliton propagation: a steep shock front develops that may efficiently scatter a second, weaker probe pulse into relatively intense positive and negative frequency modes with amplification at the expense of the soliton. Our results show a novel all-optical amplification scheme that relies on soliton induced scattering.
Citation
Rubino , E , Lotti , A , Belgiorno , F , Cacciatori , S L , Couairon , A , Leonhardt , U & Faccio , D 2012 , ' Soliton-induced relativistic-scattering and amplification ' , Scientific Reports , vol. 2 , 932 . https://doi.org/10.1038/srep00932
Publication
Scientific Reports
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
2045-2322Type
Journal article
Collections
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