Odyssey of Light in Nonlinear Optical Fibers

14 Parabolic similaritons in optical fibers

Finot Christophe and Boscolo Sonia

14.1 Introduction

Parabolic pulses in optical fibers have several remarkable properties which have stimulated an increasing number of applications in nonlinear optics. Here, we review the physics underlying the generation of such pulses as well as the results obtained in a wide range of experimental configurations. For more than three decades, optical fibers have been recognized as a versatile testbed for the investigation of a large variety of nonlinear concepts. The unique dispersive and nonlinear properties of optical fibers lead to various scenarios of the evolution of short pulses propagating in the fiber which result in particular changes of the pulse temporal ...