Abstract

Photonic Bloch waves (PBW’s), which are the normal optical modes of linear periodic media,^[1,2] exhibit rich and complex behaviour in the presence of optical nonlinearities.^[3,4] To a good approximation, a PBW can usually be represented by a pair of backward and forward plane (or partial) waves, forming an entity that travels or evanesces at a constant group velocity or decay rate. The nonlinear dispersion relation of these waves has been presented elsewhere.^[4] Here we use that analysis as a basis for examining the modulational instability (MI) gain of nonlinear PBW’s and assessing their stability.

© 1992 IQEC