Large phase shift of spatial solitons in lead glass

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates both theoretically and experimentally that a small change in optical power around the critical level can induce a large phase shift in spatial solitons within lead glass, highlighting potential for optical switching applications.

Contribution

It provides the first experimental confirmation of large phase shifts in nonlocal spatial solitons in lead glass, expanding understanding of soliton phase dynamics.

Findings

A ~10 mW power change causes a π phase shift in solitons.

Experimental verification of large phase shifts predicted theoretically.

Potential application in all-optical switching devices.

Abstract

The phenomenon of the large phase shift of the strongly nonlocal spatial optical soliton was predicted by Guo et al. within the phenomenological framework [Q. Guo, et al., Phys. Rev. E 69, 016602 (2004)], but has not been experimentally confirmed so far. We theoretically and experimentally investigate the large phase shift of that propagating in the lead glass. It is verified that the change of the optical power carried by the optical beam about 10 mW around the critical power for the soliton can lead to a {\pi} phase shift, which would be of its potential in the application of all-optical switchings.