Abstract
The large resonant nonlinearity associated with the D2 transition in rubidium metal vapor pumped by a cw Ti:sapphire laser around 780 nm has allowed the study of the creation and dynamics of two- and three-dimensional spatial solitons. An important aspect of the use of this medium is that the nonlinearity is essentially local and together with the absorption saturates in typical experimental conditions (rubidium vapor densities ≈few 1011cm−3; laser intensities ≈fewW/cm2). Saturation allows the creation of stable 3-D bright spatial solitons, which cannot exist in a normal Kerr medium, and has allowed their interaction dynamics to be studied. The work is motivated in part by the application of spatial solitons to all-optical switching in photonics.
© 1997 Optical Society of America
PDF ArticleMore Like This
V Tikhonenko, J Christou, B Luther-Davies, and YS Kivshar
TuB4 International Quantum Electronics Conference (IQEC) 1996
Vladimir Tikhonenko, Jason Christou, Barry Luther-Davies, and Yuri Kivshar
NFB.5 Nonlinear Optics: Materials, Fundamentals and Applications (NLO) 1996
V.A. Smirnov, L.A. Nesterov, N.N. Rosanov, and N.V. Vyssotina
QFB6 European Quantum Electronics Conference (EQEC) 1996