Equilibrium Dynamics of Mutually Confined Waves with Signed Analogous Masses

Ping Zhang, Qing Guo, Hao Wu, Zeyu Gong, Binbin Nie, Yi Hu, Zhigang Chen, and Jingjun Xu

Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 087201 – Published 22 August 2023

Abstract

We report the first experimental realization of equilibrium dynamics of mutually confined waves with signed analogous masses in an optical fiber. Our Letter is mainly demonstrated by considering a mutual confinement between a soliton pair and a dispersive wave experiencing opposite dispersion. The resulting wave-packet complex is found robust upon random perturbation and collision with other waves. The equilibrium dynamics are also extended to scenarios of more than three waves. Our finding may trigger fundamental interest in the dynamics of many-body systems arising from the concept of negative mass, which is promising for new applications based on localized nonlinear waves.

Received 10 May 2022
Revised 1 December 2022
Accepted 10 July 2023

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.087201

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Nonlinear waves Solitons

Nonlinear Dynamics

Authors & Affiliations

Ping Zhang, Qing Guo , Hao Wu, Zeyu Gong, Binbin Nie, Yi Hu^*, Zhigang Chen , and Jingjun Xu ^†

The MOE Key Laboratory of Weak-Light Nonlinear Photonics, TEDA Applied Physics Institute and School of Physics, Nankai University, Tianjin 300457, China

^*yihu@nankai.edu.cn
^†jjxu@nankai.edu.cn

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Issue

Vol. 131, Iss. 8 — 25 August 2023

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Images

Figure 1
Schematic diagram illustrating a nonlinear binding of three waves with signed masses in an optical analog. (a) Two out-of-phase solitons repel each other; (b) a dispersive wave undergoes a self-defocusing evolution; (c) the soliton pair and the dispersive wave reach an equilibrium state upon their mutual interaction.
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Figure 2
Numerically calculated pulse complexes and their evolution. (a) Propagation of a typical pulse complex. (b),(c) Spreading (characterized by $t_{c}$ : “center of mass” of a pulse at $t > 0$ ) of the soliton pair (b) and the dispersive wave (c) in (a): solid lines are associated with the scenarios where they mutually interact at different levels of random noise (whose strength is characterized by the parameter $n$ defined in text) applied at the input, while dashed lines plot the case when either of them propagates alone. (d) The pulse spreading averaged along a 12-km-long distance for complexes designed with various soliton separations. (e) Variance analysis of the spreading (in terms of $t_{c}$ ) during propagation corresponding to the cases in (d).
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Figure 3
Experimental demonstration of a nonlinear binding of three waves in an optical fiber. (a) Schematic setup; (b) temporal and (c) spectral profiles of the pulse complex consisting of a soliton pair and a dispersive wave at the input (bottom panels) and output (upper panels). (d),(e) Temporal and spectral profiles corresponding to (b),(c) but for the case that the soliton pair propagates alone. (FROG, frequency-resolved optical gating; EDFA, ermium-doped fiber amplifier; OSA, optical spectrum analyzer).
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Figure 4
Evolution of a pulse complex upon colliding with an external pulse. (a) Output profiles of the complex impinged by the external pulse having various input intensities; (b)–(e) numerical propagation (b),(c) and input/output profiles (d),(e) for the cases of $ζ = 1$ (b),(d) and 3.5 (c),(e). Experimentally measured input/output profiles are also plotted in (d),(e) in solid curves.
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Figure 5
Three solitons used to realize an equilibrium state with the assistance of dispersive waves (not shown here). (a),(b) Numerical propagation of the solitons in the presence (a) and absence (b) of the dispersive waves (Note: third-order dispersion and loss are not considered). (c) Measured solitons at the input (bottom panel) and their output profiles for the case that the desired dispersive waves are switched on (upper panel) or off (middle panel). In (c), the simulations are obtained by using the realistic model [i.e., Eq. (3)].
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