Quadratic solitary waves in a counterpropagating quasi-phase-matched configuration

We present eight types of spatial optical solitons which are possible in a model of a planar waveguide that includes a dual-channel trapping structure and competing (cubic-quintic) nonlinearity. Among the families of trapped beams are symmetric and antisymmetric solitons of "broad" and "narrow" types, composite states, built as combinations of broad and narrow beams with identical or opposite signs ("unipolar" and "bipolar" states, respectively), and "single-sided" broad and ...

We predict that photonic moir\'e patterns created by two mutually twisted periodic sublattices in quadratic nonlinear media allow the formation of parametric solitons under conditions that are strongly impacted by the geometry of the pattern. The question addressed here is how the geometry affects the joint trapping of multiple parametrically-coupled waves into a single soliton state. We show that above the localization-delocalization transition the threshold power for solito...

We report on the observation and quantitative assessment of self-trapped pulsating beams in a highly non-local nonlinear regime. The experiments were conducted in nematic liquid crystals and allow a meaningful comparison with the prediction of a scalar theory in the perturbative limit, while addressing the need for beyond-paraxial analytical treatments.

We study solitons in one-dimensional quadratic nonlinear photonic crystals with modulation of both the linear and nonlinear susceptibilities. We derive averaged equations that include induced cubic nonlinearities and numerically find previously unknown soliton families. The inclusion of the induced cubic terms enables us to show that solitons still exist even when the effective quadratic nonlinearity vanishes and conventional theory predicts that there can be no soliton. We d...

We consider the propagation of broad optical beams through slab waveguides with a purely quadratic nonlinearity and containing linear and nonlinear long-period quasi-phase-matching gratings. An exact Floquet analysis on the periodic, plane-wave solution shows that the periodicity can drastically alter the growth rate of the modulational instability but that it never completely removes the instability. The results are confirmed by direct numerical simulation, as well as throug...

We present a wide class of novel solitary and periodic waves in a non-centrosymmetric waveguide exhibiting second- and third-order nonlinearities. We show the existence of bright, gray, and W-shaped solitary waves as well as periodic waves for extended nonlinear Schr\"{o}dinger equation with quadratic and cubic nonlinearities. We also obtained the exact analytical algebraic-type solitary waves of the governing equation, including bright and W-shaped waves. The results illustr...

We present a comprehensive overview of different types of parametric interactions in nonlinear optics which are associated with simultaneous phase-matching of several optical processes in quadratic nonlinear media, the so-called multistep parametric interactions. We discuss a number of possibilities of double and multiple phase-matching in engineered structures with the sign-varying second-order nonlinear susceptibility, including (i) uniform and non-uniform quasi-phase-match...

We review the latest progress and properties of the families of bright and dark one-dimensional periodic waves propagating in saturable Kerr-type and quadratic nonlinear media. We show how saturation of the nonlinear response results in appearance of stability (instability) bands in focusing (defocusing) medium, which is in sharp contrast with the properties of periodic waves in Kerr media. One of the key results discovered is the stabilization of multicolor periodic waves in...

Dipole and quadrupole solitons in a two-dimensional optically induced defocus- ing photonic lattice are theoretically predicted and experimentally observed. It is shown that in-phase nearest-neighbor dipole and out-of-phase next-nearest-neighbor dipoles exist and can be stable in the intermediate intensity regime. The other types of dipoles are always unstable. In-phase nearest-neighbor quadrupoles are also numerically obtained, and may also be linearly stable. Out-of-phase, ...

We show numerically that ultrashort self-defocusing temporal solitons colliding with a weak pulsed probe in the near-IR can convert the probe to the mid-IR. A near-perfect conversion efficiency is possible for a high effective soliton order. The near-IR self-defocusing soliton can form in a quadratic nonlinear crystal (beta-barium borate) in the normal dispersion regime due to cascaded (phase-mismatched) second-harmonic generation, and the mid-IR converted wave is formed in t...