Abstract

Nonlinear directional couplers are systems of coupled optical fibres which possess a ϰ⁽³⁾ nonlinearity, giving rise to self-phase modulation. For single mode, non-dispersive fibres, the classical dynamics of this system are described by the discrete self-trapping equation [ 1 ] ; a generic model for linearly-coupled, anharmonic Bose oscillators. When the number of oscillators N is greater than two, this system is non-integrable and in the simplest (N=3) such case when two of the modes are uncoupled and all modes have the same frequency, chaos has been seen to develop for arbitrarily low values of the nonlinear (Kerr) coefficent.

© 1996 Optical Society of America