Photon kinetic theory of self-phase modulation

Joerg Bochmann, Holger Specht, Martin Muecke +5 more

J. T. Mendonça, R. Bingham, P. K. Shukla

A kinetic approach to Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) is proposed based on the Wigner-Moyal equation (WME). In the semiclassical limit, the WME reduces to the particle-number conservation equation. Two examples of applications are (i) a self-phase modulation of a BE condensate beam, where we show that part of the beam is decelerated and eventually stops as a result of the gradient of the effective self-potential, and (ii) the derivation of a kinetic dispersion relation for sound waves in BECs, including collisionless Landau damping.

K. J. Blow, R. Loudon, Simon J. D. Phoenix

Ewan M. Wright

The time-dependent Hartree approximation discussed by Lai Haus [ Phys. Rev. A40, 844 ( 1989)] is used to investigate the effects of self-phase modulation on a beam of finite transverse extent propagating through a Kerr nonlinear medium. For a thermal field the photon statistics can greatly alter the spatial frequency spectrum in comparison with that for a coherent field. This suggests the use of self-phase modulation as a probe of field photon statistics.

Chad A. Husko, Sylvain Combrié, Quynh Vy Tran +3 more

We demonstrate experimental results and analytical formulation of slow-light-enhanced self-phase modulation limited only by three-photon absorption. We present nonlinear figure-of-merits on three-photon-limited ultrafast switching, and critical intensities for free-carrier effects in photonic crystals.

Stephen E. Harris, Chinmay Belthangady, Chih‐Sung Chuu +6 more