From basic research to industrial partnership

Solitons

Spatial solitons : Fundamentals and Applications

Research Project

bris

One of the goals of modern nonlinear optics is the development of the ultimate fast, all-optical device in which light can be used to control light. The unique possibilities of reconfigurable 3D circuits created in nonlinear bulk media without any fabricated optical waveguide can be achieved by employing the fundamental concept of light guiding light, based on the propagation of spatial optical solitons.
Spatial solitons, or self-trapped, self-guided light beams that do not spread because of diffraction when they propagate in a nonlinear bulk medium, are considered
information-carrying units, and the process of all-optical switching can be associated with the evolution of different types of spatial optical solitons and the interactions between them. Our research activities on spatial solitons are twofold : fundamentals and applications. A first project aims at studying and understanding spatial vector solitons and their stability in pure Kerr media. The second part deals with the photorefractive soliton in Lithium Niobate and their potential applications to integrated optics and reconfigurable 3-D optical circuitry.

Persons involved

M. Chauvet (MC, 80%), G. Fanjoux (MC, 100%), T. Sylvestre (CR, 30%), Eric Lantz (PR, 25%), H. Maillotte (DR, 25%), F. Devaux (PR, 20%), V. Coda (DOC, 100%), M. Delqué (DOC, 100%), R. Passier (DOC, 50%), F. Pettazzi (DOC, 50%), C. Cambournac (DOC, 100%), G. Couton (DOC, 100%)

Collaborations

LMOPS Metz, ENS Paris, POMA Angers, Univ. « La Sapienza » Rome, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Univ. Mohammedia Maroc, Univ. Arkansas USA

Grants

STREP Européen FET-OPEN IST QUANTIM, ACI Nanosciences COBIAN, Programme de coopération internationale CNRS/DRI-NSF (USA), Région Franche-Comté (2006).

Selected Papers

  • "Slow-light spatial solitons", G. Fanjoux, J. Michaud, H. Maillotte, T. Sylvestre, Physical Review Letters, 100, 013908 (2008).
  • "Self-trapping of low-energy infrared femtosecond beams in lithium niobate", F. Pettazzi, M. Alonzo, M. Centini, A. Petris, V. I. Vlad, M. Chauvet, E. Fazio, PHYSICAL REVIEW A, 76, 063818 (2007).
  • "Polarization dynamics of the fundamental vector soliton of isotropic Kerr media," M. Delqué, G. Fanjoux and T. Sylvestre, Phys. Rev. E 75, 01661 (2007).
  • "Frequency-doubling in self-induced waveguides in Lithium Niobate," F. Pettazzi, V. Coda, M. Chauvet, and E. Fazio, Optics Communications, Vol 272/1 pp 238-241 (2007).
  • "Sharp waveguide bends induced by spatial solitons," R. Jager, S. P. Gorza, C. Cambournac, M. Haelterman, and M. Chauvet, Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 88, 061117, (2006)
  • "Electrically switched photoinduced waveguide in unpoled strontium barium niobate," M. Chauvet, A. Guo, G. Fu and G. Salamo, J. Appl. Physics, 99, 113107 (2006)
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