Abstract

The possibility of exciting spatial solitons using moderate power CW lasers appears promising for optical interconnects, communication, and information processing. In addition to the dye solutions (using ethanol, acetone, etc.) where the dark soliton excitation by Ar-ion lasers was reported recently (see e.g. [1]), photorefractive crystals (PRCs) [2] are also highly suitable for these applications. They show high photoinduced refractive index changes (δn≈ 10⁻⁵-10⁻³) at extremely low CW laser intensities (10⁻⁴ W/cm²) and allow easy switching of the sign of the optical nonlinearity (through the change of the crystal orientation, light polarization, or the sign of externally applied DC electric field) needed for observation of bright and dark solitons.

© 1993 Optical Society of America