W.N. Ye, L. Brzozowski, E.H. Sargent, and D.E. Pelinovsky

Stable all-optical limiting in nonlinear periodic structures
III. Non-solitonic pulse propagation

J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 20, 695-705 (2003)

Abstract:
We present a detailed time-domain analysis of a promising nonlinear optical device consisting of alternating layers of nonlinear materials with oppositely-signed Kerr coefficients. We study propagation of non-solitonic (Gaussian) pulses through the device, whose transmittance characteristics points to potential uses in all-optical switches and limiters. If the optical structure has no linear built-in grating, the pulse experiences a non-solitonic (amplitude-decaying) propagation in the structure, which exhibits limiting properties, depending on the bandwidth of the pulse. We elucidate the conditions under which double imaging occurs within the dynamically formed grating under the pulse propagation. In the presence of linear out-of-phase built-in grating, we observe strong envelope compression and reshaping of a Gaussian pulse, resulting in stable high-amplitude multiple-peak oscillations in pulse propagation through the nonlinear optical structure.

Keywords:
PERIODIC OPTICAL MATERIALS, COUPLED-MODE EQUATIONS, INPUT-OUTPUT TRANSMISSION CHARACTERISTICS, PULSE PROPAGATION, GAP SOLITONS, GAUSSIAN PULSES, TRAVELLING BREATHERS