Optical analogue of relativistic Dirac solitons in binary waveguide arrays

Journal Article · Wed Jan 15 04:00:00 EST 2014 · Annals of Physics (New York)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/J.AOP.2013.10.017· OSTI ID:22224286

Longhi, Stefano ^[1]; Biancalana, Fabio ^[2]

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1. Department of Physics, Politecnico di Milano and Istituto di Fotonica e Nanotecnologie del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Piazza L. da Vinci 32, I-20133 Milano (Italy)
2. Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Günther-Scharowsky str. 1, 91058 Erlangen (Germany)

We study analytically and numerically an optical analogue of Dirac solitons in binary waveguide arrays in the presence of Kerr nonlinearity. Pseudo-relativistic soliton solutions of the coupled-mode equations describing dynamics in the array are analytically derived. We demonstrate that with the found soliton solutions, the coupled mode equations can be converted into the nonlinear relativistic 1D Dirac equation. This paves the way for using binary waveguide arrays as a classical simulator of quantum nonlinear effects arising from the Dirac equation, something that is thought to be impossible to achieve in conventional (i.e. linear) quantum field theory. -- Highlights: •An optical analogue of Dirac solitons in nonlinear binary waveguide arrays is suggested. •Analytical solutions to pseudo-relativistic solitons are presented. •A correspondence of optical coupled-mode equations with the nonlinear relativistic Dirac equation is established.

• OSTI ID: 22224286
• Journal Information: Annals of Physics (New York), Journal Name: Annals of Physics (New York) Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 340; ISSN 0003-4916; ISSN APNYA6
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
DIRAC EQUATION
MATHEMATICAL SOLUTIONS
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
RELATIVISTIC RANGE
SIMULATORS
SOLITONS
WAVEGUIDES