Abstract
The splitting and steering of ultrashort pulses propagating through a Kerr medium are investigated. This investigation extends earlier ones of cw spatial soliton Y junctions into the area of subpicosecond solitonlike pulse propagation. Besides that of the all-optical steering process, the influence of normal group-velocity dispersion and two-photon absorption is discussed. It is found that both processes modify the transmission characteristics of the system (i.e., output versus input beam intensity) in a similar way. However, two-photon absorption inhibits the steering property of Y junctions, whereas normal group-velocity dispersion enhances it. A model based on an adiabatic propagation approximation is used to explain this behavior qualitatively.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1458-1464 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Journal of the Optical Society of America B: Optical Physics |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 1997 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
- Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics