Optical discrete surface solitons seen
DOI: 10.1063/1.4797371
Nonlinear optical surface waves between two dielectrics have been extensively studied theoretically, but their experimental realization has proven to be difficult. In recent years, however, periodic systems of optically nonlinear materials have enabled the observation of many new phenomena. A multinational team led by the CREOL soliton group at the University of Central Florida now reports the observation of discrete optical surface solitons along the interface between an array of coupled nonlinear optical waveguides and a continuous medium. The soliton power is controlled by the change in propagation constants between the parallel waveguides and the continuous region, and by the coupling strength between adjacent waveguides. Such solitons could prove useful in all-optical circuits. (S. Suntsov et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 96 , 063901, 2006 http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.063901 .)
