Abstract

In order to reduce the power for the soliton formation and the switching threshold, one can use materials with higher nonlinearities than that of silica. However, in many cases an enhanced nonlinear Kerr coefficient is accompanied by an enhancement of the two-photon absorption (TPA) [1]. This is the case, for example, of spatial optical solitons observed in the semiconductor ZnSe which is known to be a nonlinear medium with a rather strong TPA [2,3]. Therefore, to use solitons for all-optical switching, one should analyze the effect of the TPA on the propagation of bright and dark solitons.

© 1995 Optical Society of America