Looking at a soliton through the prism of optical supercontinuum

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent advances in understanding how solitons in optical fibers interact with dispersive radiation to generate broad supercontinuum spectra, revealing new physics and analogies with other wave systems.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of recent insights into soliton-radiation interactions and supercontinuum generation in optical fibers, highlighting novel physical mechanisms.

Findings

Solitons are key to octave broad supercontinuum generation.

Dispersive radiation interacts complexly with solitons, leading to spectral broadening.

Analogies with ultracold atoms and ocean waves offer new perspectives.

Abstract

A traditional view on solitons in optical fibers as robust particle-like structures suited for informa- tion transmission has been significantly altered and broadened over the past decade, when solitons have been found to play the major role in generation of octave broad supercontinuum spectra in photonic-crystal and other types of optical fibers. This remarkable spectral broadening is achieved through complex processes of dispersive radiation being scattered from, emitted and transformed by solitons. Thus solitons have emerged as the major players in nonlinear frequency conversion in optical fibers. Unexpected analogies of these processes have been found with dynamics of ultracold atoms and ocean waves. This colloquium focuses on recent understanding and new insights into physics of soliton-radiation interaction and supercontinuum generation.