General dimensionless forms of the evolution equation of nonlinear pulses propagating in an optical waveguide are given. The main aim of the paper is to provide a quantitative framework within which various factors that could contribute to the pulse development can be assessed. After showing that both waveguide and material dispersion are important, and are automatically included in the simulation, several specimen examples containing enhanced effects are given. These show the effects of dispersion and self-steepening effects that can produce pulse asymmetry and, ultimately, optical shock formation. In particular the effect of the shock term on the N=1 and N=2 soliton is given that shows the shock term becoming more significant for higher order solitons provided that third order dispersion can be neglected.

Date Published: 30 August 1983
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 0374, Fibre Optics '83, (30 August 1983); doi: 10.1117/12.934559

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 0374:
Fibre Optics '83
Lionel R. Baker, Editor(s)