Instabilities, breathers and rogue waves in optics

TL;DR

This paper reviews the occurrence and physical mechanisms of optical rogue waves, focusing on nonlinear breather and soliton dynamics in fiber systems and other optical setups, highlighting their statistical and physical characteristics.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of optical rogue waves, emphasizing the physical processes behind their formation beyond just statistical features.

Findings

Optical rogue waves are linked to nonlinear breather and soliton dynamics.

Extreme optical events have been observed in various optical systems.

Physical mechanisms, not just statistics, drive rogue wave formation.

Abstract

Optical rogue waves are rare yet extreme fluctuations in the value of an optical field. The terminology was first used in the context of an analogy between pulse propagation in optical fibre and wave group propagation on deep water, but has since been generalized to describe many other processes in optics. This paper provides an overview of this field, concentrating primarily on propagation in optical fibre systems that exhibit nonlinear breather and soliton dynamics, but also discussing other optical systems where extreme events have been reported. Although statistical features such as long-tailed probability distributions are often considered the defining feature of rogue waves, we emphasise the underlying physical processes that drive the appearance of extreme optical structures.