Abstract

The Akhmediev breather formalism of modulation instability is extended to describe the spectral dynamics of induced multiple sideband generation from a modulated continuous wave field. Exact theoretical results describing the frequency domain evolution are compared with experiments performed using single mode fiber around $1550\mathrm{nm}$. The spectral theory is shown to reproduce the depletion dynamics of an injected modulated continuous wave pump and to describe the Fermi–Pasta–Ulam recurrence and recovery towards the initial state. Realistic simulations including higher-order dispersion, loss, and Raman scattering are used to identify that the primary physical factors that preclude perfect recurrence are related to imperfect initial conditions.

© 2011 Optical Society of America

Modulation instability, Akhmediev Breathers and continuous wave supercontinuum generation

J. M. Dudley, G. Genty, F. Dias, B. Kibler, and N. Akhmediev
Opt. Express 17(24) 21497-21508 (2009)

Experimental dynamics of Akhmediev breathers in a dispersion varying optical fiber

A. Bendahmane, A. Mussot, P. Szriftgiser, O. Zerkak, G. Genty, J. M. Dudley, and A. Kudlinski
Opt. Lett. 39(15) 4490-4493 (2014)

Excitation of nonlinear beams: from the linear Talbot effect through modulation instability to Akhmediev breathers

Roland Schiek
Opt. Express 29(10) 15830-15851 (2021)

Akhmediev breathers and Peregrine solitary waves in a quadratic medium

Fabio Baronio
Opt. Lett. 42(9) 1756-1759 (2017)

Quantitative approach to breather pair appearance in nonlinear modulational instability

Stefano Trillo and Matteo Conforti
Opt. Lett. 44(17) 4275-4278 (2019)