Soliton formation by decelerating interacting Airy beams

Observation of off-axis solitary waves propagating along a specific trajectory in photorefractive crystals

We report the propagation dynamics of swallowtail beams (SBs) within a photorefractive crystal. In the nonlinear regime, the self-accelerating and secondary self-focusing features of the swallowtail beams are influenced, and a solitary wave is generated. The main lobe energy of the swallowtail beams is guided to a specific inclined trajectory, leading to a stable solitary wave, and we control the output position of the solitary wave by changing the launch angle. Our results are supported by the corresponding experiments. In addition, we demonstrate that a Gaussian beam can be effectively guided in swallowtail optical waveguide structures. Our research represents an interesting interaction between the swallowtail beams and nonlinear medium, which may find potential applications in photonic integrated devices and optical information transmission.

Interactions of Airy beams in nonlinear media with fourth-order diffraction

We investigate to the best of our knowledge the first time the interactions of in-phase and out-of-phase Airy beams in Kerr, saturable and nonlocal nonlinear media with fourth-order diffraction using split-step Fourier transform method. Directly numerical simulations show that normal and anomalous fourth-order diffractions have profound effects on the interactions of the Airy beams in Kerr and saturable nonlinear media. We demonstrate the dynamics of the interactions in detail. In nonlocal media with fourth-order diffraction, nonlocality induces a long-range attractive force between Airy beams, leading to the formation of stable bound states of both in-phase and out-of-phase breathing Airy soliton pairs which are always repulsive in local media. Our results have potential applications in all-optical devices for communication and optical interconnects, etc.

Dual projectile beams

Accelerating beams, of which the Airy beam is an important representative, are characterized by intensity maxima that propagate along curved trajectories. In this work we present a simple approach to directly generate accelerating beams with controllable trajectories by means of binary phase structures that consist of only a π phase step modulation in comparison to previous studies where two-dimensional cubic phase modulations for example are required, and which have practical limitations due to their challenging fabrication with phase plates or diffractive optical elements (DOEs), or the spatially extended system needed for their generation at the Fourier plane. In our approach, two intensity maxima are formed that propagate along root parabolic trajectories in contrast to Airy and higher order caustic beams that propagate along a parabolic curve, hence we call these beams Dual Projectile Beams (DPBs). By tailoring a step or slit phase patterns with additional Fresnel lenses, we either generate hollow-core or abruptly focusing beams and control their curvatures. Moreover, using DPBs as a simpler complement to complex structured light fields, we demonstrate their versatility at the example of their interaction with nonlinear matter, namely the formation of a spatial soliton in a photorefractive material. We show that the formed solitary state propagates almost unchanged for a distance of several Rayleigh lengths. This light matter interaction can be regarded as a light beam deceleration. The simplicity of this approach makes these beams suitable for integrated optics and high-power laser applications using DOEs or meta-surfaces.

Partially coherent dual and quad airy beams

We investigate the partially coherent dual and quad Airy beams, which are the partially coherent version of multiple Airy beams, in the framework of cross-spectral density functions. They are constructed by the superposition of two and four partially coherent Airy beams without reduced acceleration properties (rate and range). In the case where the interference effect is not considered, the property of lacking side lobes in the partially coherent quad Airy beams leads to the performance of the optical frame during propagation. In the case with constructive interference, we find that the interference pattern produced by the partially coherent dual and quad Airy beams can remain stable and display a spot right in the center of the optical frame. The shape and peak intensity of this interference spot can be controlled by the transverse width of the beams. These results may provide new understanding for the partially coherent field of accelerating beams.

Counterpropagating interactions of self-focusing Airy beams

We study the first experimental collisions of two incoherent self-focused counterpropagating Airy beams in a nonlinear crystal. Their interactions demonstrate that the self-focusing dynamics of the Airy beams can be spatially controlled by the counterpropagating Airy beam. By tuning the misalignment and the size of the beams, we can control the output position of the self-focused Airy beam and switch to multiple outputs. Also the nonlinearity strength enables to engineer the temporal stability of the resulting waveguide structure.

Synchrotron radiation from an accelerating light pulse

Synchrotron radiation-namely, electromagnetic radiation produced by charges moving in a curved path-is regularly generated at large-scale facilities where giga-electron volt electrons move along kilometer-long circular paths. We use a metasurface to bend light and demonstrate synchrotron radiation produced by a subpicosecond pulse, which moves along a circular arc of radius 100 micrometers inside a nonlinear crystal. The emitted radiation, in the terahertz frequency range, results from the nonlinear polarization induced by the pulse. The generation of synchrotron radiation from a pulse revolving about a circular trajectory holds promise for the development of on-chip terahertz sources.

Generation of single or double parallel breathing soliton pairs, bound breathing solitons, moving breathing solitons, and diverse composite breathing solitons in optical fibers

Interactions of two truncated Airy pulses with arbitrarily initial relative phases, initial pulse intervals, and different soliton order are numerically investigated in optical fibers. When the soliton order is 1, depending on different initial pulse intervals, the initial in-phase Airy pulses may evolve to single breathing solitons, bound breathing solitons, and single parallel breathing solitons. While the out-of-phase Airy pulses may evolve to parallel or repulsive soliton pairs with breathing or weak breathing, after radiating away some dispersive waves. When the initial relative phases take arbitrary values except 0 and π, moving single breathing solitons and repulsive or parallel soliton pairs will form. Moreover, the whole temporal profiles may become asymmetric. The repulsive soliton pairs consist of two moving breathing solitons with different intensities, moving velocities, and breathing periods. The most interestingly is that, when the soliton order is larger than one, we observe double bound breathing solitons, double parallel breathing soliton pairs, and diverse composite breathing solitons which consist of two or more different breathing solitons. one can effectively manipulate and select the soliton expected and its evolution dynamics by adjusting the soliton order, initial pulse intervals, and initial relative phases.

Nonparaxial self-accelerating beams in an atomic vapor with electromagnetically induced transparency

We theoretically and numerically investigate the nonparaxial self-accelerating beams in a Λ-type three-level energy system of rubidium atomic vapor in the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) window. In the EIT window, the absorption of the atomic vapor is small, and robust nonparaxial self-accelerating beams can be generated. The reason is that the energy of the tail transfers to the main lobe, which then maintains its shape, owing to the self-healing effect. Media with large absorption would demand large energy to compensate, and the tail would be lifted too high to maintain the profile of an accelerating beam, so that self-accelerating beams cannot be obtained any longer. An atomic vapor with small absorption is the ideal medium to produce such self-accelerating beams and, in return, self-accelerating beams may inspire new ideas in the research associated with atomic vapors and atomic-like ensembles.

Controllable circular Airy beams via dynamic linear potential

We investigate controllable spatial modulation of circular autofocusing Airy beams, under action of different dynamic linear potentials, both theoretically and numerically. We introduce a novel treatment method in which the circular Airy beam is represented as a superposition of narrow azimuthally-modulated one-dimensional Airy beams that can be analytically treated. The dynamic linear potentials are appropriately designed, so that the autofocusing effect can either be weakened or even eliminated when the linear potential exerts a "pulling" effect on the beam, or if the linear potential exerts a "pushing" effect, the autofocusing effect can be greatly strengthened. Numerical simulations agree with the theoretical results very well.