Abstract
Instabilities of uniform states are ubiquitous processes occurring in a variety of spatially extended nonlinear systems. These instabilities are at the heart of symmetry breaking, condensate dynamics, self-organization, pattern formation and noise amplification across diverse disciplines, including physics, chemistry, engineering and biology. In nonlinear optics,
modulation instabilities are generally linked to the so-called parametric amplification process, which occurs when certain phase-matching or quasi-phase-matching conditions are satisfied. In the present review article, we summarize the principle results on modulation instabilities and parametric amplification in nonlinear optics, with special emphasis on optical fibres. We
then review state-of-the-art research about a peculiar class of modulation instabilities and signal amplification processes induced by dissipation in nonlinear optical systems. Losses applied to certain parts of the spectrum counterintuitively lead to the exponential growth of the damped mode themselves, causing gain through losses. We discuss the concept of imaging
of losses into gain, showing how to map a given spectral loss profile into a gain spectrum. We demonstrate with concrete examples that dissipation-induced modulation instability, apart
from being of fundamental theoretical interest, may pave the way towards the design of a new class of tuneable fibre-based optical amplifiers, optical parametric oscillators, frequency comb sources and pulsed lasers.
modulation instabilities are generally linked to the so-called parametric amplification process, which occurs when certain phase-matching or quasi-phase-matching conditions are satisfied. In the present review article, we summarize the principle results on modulation instabilities and parametric amplification in nonlinear optics, with special emphasis on optical fibres. We
then review state-of-the-art research about a peculiar class of modulation instabilities and signal amplification processes induced by dissipation in nonlinear optical systems. Losses applied to certain parts of the spectrum counterintuitively lead to the exponential growth of the damped mode themselves, causing gain through losses. We discuss the concept of imaging
of losses into gain, showing how to map a given spectral loss profile into a gain spectrum. We demonstrate with concrete examples that dissipation-induced modulation instability, apart
from being of fundamental theoretical interest, may pave the way towards the design of a new class of tuneable fibre-based optical amplifiers, optical parametric oscillators, frequency comb sources and pulsed lasers.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 43 |
| Journal | Light: Science & Applications |
| Volume | 7 |
| Early online date | 13 Jun 2018 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Aug 2018 |
Bibliographical note
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproductionin any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if
changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If
material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain
permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.