Switching dynamics of femtosecond solitons in parity-time-symmetric coupled optical waveguides

TL;DR

This paper investigates femtosecond soliton dynamics in parity-time-symmetric optical waveguides, revealing how higher-order effects and gain/loss balance enable stable soliton steering at low power levels.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive model including higher-order effects for femtosecond solitons in PT-symmetric couplers, demonstrating stabilization and efficient steering at low power.

Findings

Higher-order effects stabilize soliton evolution.

Stable soliton steering achieved at low power.

Gain/loss balance enhances soliton control.

Abstract

We report a detailed study on soliton steering dynamics in a parity-time-symmetric directional coupler in the femtosecond domain, which requires incorporation of higher-order perturbative effects such as third-order and fourth-order dispersions, self-steepening, and intrapulse Raman scattering. With a high gain/loss, the combination of all these effects is found to stabilize the soliton pulse evolution in the coupler from the chaotic behavior of unperturbed evolution. This work demonstrates that efficient soliton steering can be achieved at very low critical power and a relatively higher gain/loss even in the femtosecond regime.