Guided-Wave Optics

Abstract

The topic of guided wave (GW) propagation comprises a vast research area overlapping with photonics, matter waves in macroscopic quantum media (ultracold gases of bosonic and fermionic atoms, condensates of quasiparticles, such as excitons-polaritons, magnons, and cavity photons), hydrodynamics, acoustics, plasma physics, etc. In many situations, tightly confined GWs naturally acquire high amplitudes, which gives rise to a plenty of fascinating nonlinear effects. In particular, waveguides often provide a combination of nonlinearity, group-velocity dispersion, and low losses, which are necessary for the creation of solitons (robust solitary waves). In optics, experimental and theoretical work with GWs is a vast research area, with great significance both for fundamental studies and numerous applications, which are realized in linear and nonlinear forms alike, including long-haul telecommunications, all-optical data-processing schemes, and generation of powerful laser beams, especially in fiber lasers.