Creating Light-Made Waveguides with Structured Optical Beams in Nonlinear Kerr Media

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the creation of structured optical beams in nonlinear Kerr media, specifically self-defocusing media, to guide and control Gaussian beams, opening new avenues in all-optical photonics.

Contribution

It introduces a method to generate Frozen-Wave structured beams in nonlinear media, expanding the potential for light control and photonic applications beyond linear optics.

Findings

Successfully constructed structured beams in Kerr media

Demonstrated guiding of Gaussian beams using structured light

Supports potential for new nonlinear optical applications

Abstract

While in linear optics the subject of structured light has been a fruitful field of both theoretical and applied research, its development in the arena of nonlinear optics has been underexplored. In this paper, we construct Frozen-Wave-type structured optical beams in Kerr nonlinear media, emphasizing the self-defocusing case, and use them to guide and control Gaussian optical beams. The results presented in this study support the expectation that structured light in nonlinear media can open new venues of theoretical research and applications, particularly in the realms of light controlling light and for all-optical photonics.