Observation of Kuznetsov-Ma soliton dynamics in optical fibre

• DOI: 10.1038/srep00463
• Publication Date: 2012-06-18T08:57:42Z
• Authors: B. Kibler; J. Fatome; C. Finot; G. Millot; G. Genty; B. Wetzel; N. Akhmediev; F. Dias; J. M. Dudley
• Keywords: Dynamics

The nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE) is a central model of science, applying to hydrodynamics, plasma physics, molecular biology and optics. NLSE admits only few elementary analytic solutions, but one in particular describing localized soliton on finite background intense current interest the context understanding physics extreme waves. However, although first solution this type was Kuznetzov-Ma (KM) derived 1977, there have fact been no quantitative experiments confirming its validity. We report here novel optical fibre that confirm KM theory, completing an important series now observed complete family solutions NLSE. Our results also show dynamics appear more universally than for specific conditions originally considered can be interpreted as description Fermi-Pasta-Ulam recurrence propagation.