Inversion and tight focusing of Airy pulses under the action of third-order dispersion

TL;DR

This paper investigates how Airy pulses behave in optical fibers with significant third-order dispersion, revealing focusing, inversion, and nonlinear effects through simulations and analysis.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the nonlinear propagation, focusing, and inversion of Airy pulses influenced by third-order dispersion in optical fibers.

Findings

Airy pulses focus tightly when third-order dispersion dominates

Inversion of Airy pulses occurs after initial focusing

Kerr nonlinearity partially mitigates dispersion effects

Abstract

By means of direct simulations and theoretical analysis, we study the nonlinear propagation of truncated Airy pulses in an optical fiber exhibiting both anomalous second-order and strong positive third-order dispersions. It is found that the Airy pulse first reaches a finite-size focal area as determined by the relative strength of the two dispersion terms, and then undergoes an inversion transformation such that it continues to travel with an opposite acceleration. The system notably features tight focusing if the third-order dispersion is a dominant factor. These effects are partially reduced by a Kerr nonlinearity.