This Research Topic commemorates the 50th anniversary of the discovery of optical solitons in 1973.
Optical solitons are localized light waves arising from the balance of linear and nonlinear effects in the media where the waves are propagating. Temporal optical pulses (localized light waves in the time domain) are broadened by (linear) dispersion effects as they travel through the media, while spatial optical beams (localized light waves in space) diverge as they travel due to (linear) diffraction effects. On the other hand, the self-induced nonlinear refractive index of the light waves (the optical Kerr effect) compresses the pulses or focuses the beams. Temporal optical solitons are transmission states of the optical pulses due to the balance between the dispersion and the nonlinearity, and spatial optical solitons are these due to the balance between the diffraction and the nonlinearity, which are self-trappings formed by the optical beams in the media.
Solitons are common phenomena in physics, and exist in a variety of branches of physics such as optics, plasmas, condensed matter physics, fluid mechanics, particle physics, and astrophysics. The same theoretical (mathematical) structures are shared behind soliton phenomena in different physical branches. Thus, the in-depth and detailed study of solitons in one physical branch will help to understand the soliton phenomenon in other branches. Because optical solitons are easy to observe experimentally, much of our empirical knowledge today about the properties of solitons and their interaction behaviors comes from the study of optical solitons. The study of optical solitons not only enables us to expand our understanding of basic physical phenomena, but more importantly, optical solitons themselves have potential applications in all-optical information processing.
After 1973’s prediction by Hasegawa et al. and 1980’s observation by Mollenauer et al., the study of the optical solitons formed the first upsurge during the late 1980s to the 1990s. The main body of that research was temporal optical solitons as a possible candidate for an information carrier in future optical communications, and the direct application target was to realize the optical soliton communication system (OSCS), an ultra-high bit rate optical communication system. With the maturity of the dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) technique, however, the research enthusiasm for OSCS has decreased since the end of the last century. Although a few people are still trying to replace the current linear optical communication system based on DWDM with OSCS, the enthusiasm for temporal solitons has been replaced by spatial optical solitons in recent years. Due to the multi-dimensional nature of space, there are many kinds of spatial optical solitons, and the research content is much richer than that of temporal optical solitons.
We aim to collect papers on the optical solitons, including but not limited to spatial optical solitons and temporal optical solitons, etc. The papers submitted to the issue should deal with the physics, mathematics and engineering involved with the propagation of optical envelopes (wavepackets) in nonlinear media, that is:
• Different kinds of spatial optical solitons,
• Different kinds of temporal optical solitons,
• Spatiotemporal optical solitons and optical bullets,
• Optical rogue waves, including Akhmediev breathers and Peregrine solitons, and so on,
• Applications of optical solitons, for example, soliton lasers etc.
This Research Topic commemorates the 50th anniversary of the discovery of optical solitons in 1973.
Optical solitons are localized light waves arising from the balance of linear and nonlinear effects in the media where the waves are propagating. Temporal optical pulses (localized light waves in the time domain) are broadened by (linear) dispersion effects as they travel through the media, while spatial optical beams (localized light waves in space) diverge as they travel due to (linear) diffraction effects. On the other hand, the self-induced nonlinear refractive index of the light waves (the optical Kerr effect) compresses the pulses or focuses the beams. Temporal optical solitons are transmission states of the optical pulses due to the balance between the dispersion and the nonlinearity, and spatial optical solitons are these due to the balance between the diffraction and the nonlinearity, which are self-trappings formed by the optical beams in the media.
Solitons are common phenomena in physics, and exist in a variety of branches of physics such as optics, plasmas, condensed matter physics, fluid mechanics, particle physics, and astrophysics. The same theoretical (mathematical) structures are shared behind soliton phenomena in different physical branches. Thus, the in-depth and detailed study of solitons in one physical branch will help to understand the soliton phenomenon in other branches. Because optical solitons are easy to observe experimentally, much of our empirical knowledge today about the properties of solitons and their interaction behaviors comes from the study of optical solitons. The study of optical solitons not only enables us to expand our understanding of basic physical phenomena, but more importantly, optical solitons themselves have potential applications in all-optical information processing.
After 1973’s prediction by Hasegawa et al. and 1980’s observation by Mollenauer et al., the study of the optical solitons formed the first upsurge during the late 1980s to the 1990s. The main body of that research was temporal optical solitons as a possible candidate for an information carrier in future optical communications, and the direct application target was to realize the optical soliton communication system (OSCS), an ultra-high bit rate optical communication system. With the maturity of the dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) technique, however, the research enthusiasm for OSCS has decreased since the end of the last century. Although a few people are still trying to replace the current linear optical communication system based on DWDM with OSCS, the enthusiasm for temporal solitons has been replaced by spatial optical solitons in recent years. Due to the multi-dimensional nature of space, there are many kinds of spatial optical solitons, and the research content is much richer than that of temporal optical solitons.
We aim to collect papers on the optical solitons, including but not limited to spatial optical solitons and temporal optical solitons, etc. The papers submitted to the issue should deal with the physics, mathematics and engineering involved with the propagation of optical envelopes (wavepackets) in nonlinear media, that is:
• Different kinds of spatial optical solitons,
• Different kinds of temporal optical solitons,
• Spatiotemporal optical solitons and optical bullets,
• Optical rogue waves, including Akhmediev breathers and Peregrine solitons, and so on,
• Applications of optical solitons, for example, soliton lasers etc.