Abstract

The pulse broadening by group velocity dispersion can be balanced by the narrowing effect of self-phase modulation to form temporal solitons.¹ The identical nonlinear Schrödinger equation describes the one-transverse-dimension balancing of diffraction and Kerr-medium nonlinear refraction. Some evidence for spatial solitons has been published for planar waveguides of CS₂ and glass, both in Kerr (n₂) media.^2,3 Here we report soliton formation in a semiconductor gain medium which is amplifying rather than lossy, is accumulative rather than instantaneous, and is near resonance instead of far from resonance.

© 1992 Optical Society of America