Solitons in Optical Couplers: Introduction and Perspectives

Boris A. Malomed

Abstract

This minireview provides a brief summary and a discussion of directions for further development of theoretical and, chiefly, experimental studies of bright solitons in optical couplers, i.e., dual-core waveguides which combine the linear inter-core coupling (tunneling of light between parallel cores) with the intra-core group-velocity dispersion and self-focusing Kerr (cubic) nonlinearity. Following a short introduction to the field, the article focuses on a brief review of relatively recent experimental results for the switching of solitons in dual-core nonlinear optical fibers and the spontaneous emergence of stable asymmetric two-core solitons in the couplers with the symmetric dual-core structure.

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