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Physical Review A

Spontaneous solitons in stimulated Raman scattering

David C. MacPherson, R. C. Swanson, John L. Carlsten

Published Dec 1, 1989• 50 citations
Publisher

Abstract

It has been predicted that quantum fluctuations will lead to the formation of spontaneous solitons in stimulated Raman scattering. We present experimental data in support of this prediction. From an ensemble of 1000 shots we found solitonlike pulses in 101 shots. We have measured the distribution of soliton heights and delay times.
DOI
10.1103/physreva.40.6745

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In our studies of soliton formation in stimulated Raman scattering (SRS), we have discovered that a fully quantum mechanical theory predicts large shot-to-shot fluctuations in the SRS power spectrum, which leads to soliton decay. This theory, which includes a Langevin operator to simulate collision-induced fluctuations and maintain operator consistency, can be used to generate the statistics of the macroscopic SRS output. We have also studied a simpler model which uses a random vacuum field as an input to the semiclassical SRS equations. The vacuum field was numerically generated by summing a set of electromagnetic field modes that spanned the collisional Raman linewidth. Each mode was separated in frequency by less than the resolution of the system and given a random phase for each shot. Despite the lack of Langevin terms, the shot-to-shot variations and two-frequency correlation function from the simple approach were essentially indistinguishable from the fully quantum mechanical theory. This suggests that a simulation of SRS from spontaneous emission does not always require Langevin terms in the quantum noise.
Although \ensuremath{\pi} phase shifts in an input Stokes beam are known to initiate soliton formation in a Raman amplifier, the observed shot-to-shot amplitude fluctuations have gone unexplained. It has been suggested that recently observed frequency shifts caused by quantum fluctuations may be related to the observed soliton decay. We show that frqequency shifts of the magnitude observed from these quantum fluctuations lead to soliton decay, and thus, are indeed the probable cause of observed soliton decay.
The formalism of Englund and Bowden [Phys. Rev. A 42, 2870 (1990)] is used to conduct a detailed investigation into the statistics of spontaneously generated Raman solitons and their origin in phase waves. Two approaches are adopted. In one, a Monte Carlo simulation of the stochastic differential equations describing stimulated Raman scattering is carried out, with quantum noise entering through the Stokes vacuum. The other involves determining analytically the field statistics in the quantum-initiation regime, finding the corresponding phase-wave statistics, and determining numerically the class of phase waves that appear in the nonlinear regime as solitons. Computations involving quasi-Gaussian and rectangular pump-pulse profiles consistently indicate soliton yields of roughly 10% and 4%, respectively; differences in the distributions of soliton delay times and peak intensities are also indicated. The Monte Carlo method is adapted to the experimental parameter values of MacPherson et al. [Phys. Rev. A 40, 6745 (1989)], and gives yields and distribution in good accord with the experiment.
Theoretical and experimental details of initiating and amplifying a Stokes pulse using stimulated Raman scattering in H2 are presented.Statistics associated with the spectral fluctuations of a Stokes seed pulse have been measured and theoretically calculated.The spectral fluctuations are shown to result from quantum noise associated with spontaneous initiation.These spectral fluctuations are an example of an easily measurable macroscopic fluctuation of quantum origin.The effects of frequency fluctuations on the generation of solitons in the nonlinear regime of stimulated Raman scattering are calculated and measured.A detailed derivation of the fully quantum mechanical stimulated Raman scattering equations is given along with their solution for various approximations.The driven Maxwell's equation for the Raman system is derived from the system Hamiltonian.For treating the quantum initiation of stimulated Raman scattering, the radiation field is expanded in localized coherent modes.The details of calculating and using these modes to generate an ensemble of Stokes pulses are presented along with specific examples and ensemble average statistics.The use of localized modes for treating the pulsed cavityless Raman laser gives insight into the spontaneous initiation of Stokes pulses.iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I feel very fortunate to have had Dr. John Carlsten for my thesis adviser.I would like to thank John for making graduate school an enjoyable part of life and for the many hours o f stimulating discussions on fundamental physics.I am also greatly indebted to my wife, Susie, for filling my big lunch bag every morning and for her many hours spent typing this thesis