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Abstract The mathematical description of localized solitons in the presence of large‐scale waves is a fundamental problem in nonlinear science, with applications in fluid dynamics, nonlinear optics, and condensed matter physics. Here, the evolution of a soliton as it interacts with a rarefaction wave or a dispersive shock wave, examples of slowly varying and rapidly oscillating dispersive mean fields, for the Korteweg–de Vries equation is studied. Step boundary conditions give rise to either a rarefaction wave (step up) or a dispersive shock wave (step down). When a soliton interacts with one of these mean fields, it can either transmit through (tunnel) or become embedded (trapped) inside, depending on its initial amplitude and position. A topical review of three separate analytical approaches is undertaken to describe these interactions. First, a basic soliton perturbation theory is introduced that is found to capture the solution dynamics for soliton–rarefaction wave interaction in the small dispersion limit. Next, multiphase Whitham modulation theory and its finite‐gap description are used to describe soliton–rarefaction wave and soliton–dispersive shock wave interactions. Lastly, a spectral description and an exact solution of the initial value problem is obtained through the inverse scattering transform. For transmitted solitons, far‐field asymptotics reveal the soliton phase shift through either type of wave mentioned above. In the trapped case, there is no proper eigenvalue in the spectral description, implying that the evolution does not involve a proper soliton solution. These approaches are consistent, agree with direct numerical simulation, and accurately describe different aspects of solitary wave–mean field interaction.
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On the Temporal Tweezing of Cavity Solitons
Abstract Motivated by the work of Jang et al., Nat Commun 6:7370 (2015), where the authors experimentally tweeze cavity solitons in a passive loop of optical fiber, we study the amenability to tweezing of cavity solitons as the properties of a localized tweezer are varied. The system is modeled by the Lugiato-Lefever equation, a variant of the complex Ginzburg-Landau equation. We produce an effective, localized, trapping tweezer potential by assuming a Gaussian phase-modulation of the holding beam. The potential for tweezing is then assessed as the total (temporal) displacement and speed of the tweezer are varied, and corresponding phase diagrams are presented. As the relative speed of the tweezer is increased we find two possible dynamical scenarios: successful tweezing and release of the cavity soliton. We also deploy a non-conservative variational approximation (NCVA) based on a Lagrangian description which reduces the original dissipative partial differential equation to a set of coupled ordinary differential equations for the cavity soliton parameters. We illustrate the ability of the NCVA to accurately predict the separatrix between successful and failed tweezing. This showcases the versatility of the NCVA to provide a low-dimensional description of the experimental realization of the temporal tweezing.
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- PAR ID:
- 10520241
- Publisher / Repository:
- Springer Science + Business Media
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Nonlinear Mathematical Physics
- Volume:
- 31
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 1776-0852
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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