Engineering soliton nonlinearities: From local to strongly nonlocal

TL;DR

This paper introduces a method to engineer nonlinear responses in semiconductor materials by balancing local and nonlocal effects, enabling the creation of unique soliton properties not possible in purely local or nonlocal media.

Contribution

It proposes a strategy to achieve tunable intermediate nonlinearities in semiconductors, combining Kerr and thermal effects to support novel soliton behaviors.

Findings

Supports solitons with intermediate nonlocality

Enables tunable nonlinear responses

Shows potential for advanced optical control

Abstract

We put forward a strategy to achieve synthetic nonlinearities where local and nonlocal contributions compete on similar footing, thus yielding intermediate tunable responses ranging from fully local to strongly nonlocal. The physical setting addressed is a semiconductor material with both Kerr and thermal nonlinearities illuminated by a pulse train with suitable single-pulse width and repetition rate. We illustrate the potential of the scheme by showing that it supports soliton properties that are not accessible in either limit of purely local or purely nonlocal media.