Supercontinuum Generation: Nonlinear Effects and Soliton Dynamics

This lecture delves into the nonlinear effects contributing to extreme spectral broadening in supercontinuum generation, covering topics such as soliton propagation dynamics, higher order soliton compression, soliton fission, dispersive wave generation, Raman self-frequency shift, and perturbations affecting solitons near zero dispersion wavelength. The presentation also explores the instability of higher order solitons, soliton fission, and the interplay between soliton fission, dispersive waves generation, and soliton self-frequency shift. Additionally, it discusses the dynamics in the normal dispersion regime, emphasizing the absence of bright solitons and the dominance of self-phase modulation, optical wave breaking, and four-wave mixing. The lecture concludes by outlining trends in supercontinuum generation towards all-fiber supercontinuum sources, new materials for fiber supercontinuum generation, and on-chip supercontinuum sources.