Abstract

The pulse broadening by group velocity dispersion can be balanced by the narrowing effects of self-phase modulation to form temporal solitons.^[1] The identical nonlinear Schrodinger equation describes the one-transverse-dimension balancing of diffraction and Kerr-medium nonlinear refraction. Some evidence for spatial solitons has been published for planar waveguides of CS₂ and glass, both in Kerr (n₂) media.^[2,3] Here we report soliton formation in a semiconductor gain medium which is amplifying rather than lossy, is accumulative rather than instantaneous, and is near instead of far from resonance.

© 1992 IQEC