Abstract

The discovery of Raman self-scattering or self-frequency shifting of the soliton spectrum in optical fibers (SSFS), with its characteristic monotonic frequency down-shift opens new possibilities in soliton dynamics and has led to changes in the initial concept of the soliton. Here we present an analysis of the physical characteristics of a new nonlinear effect—femtosecond soliton tunneling in the spectral domain—which occurs when due to the SSFS, soliton spectra pass through localized inhomogeneities of group velocity dispersion (GVD). These inhomogeneities, which are the equivalent of potential barriers in the quantum mechanical description of tunneling, include a change of the sign of the GVD dependence on frequency. It is interesting to draw an analogy with quantum mechanics where the solitons are considered to exhibit particlelike behavior.

© 1993 Optical Society of America