Temporal Kerr cavity solitons in optical resonators

OPERA-photonics, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium

^* e-mail : francois.leo@ulb.be

Abstract

Cavity Solitons are short optical pulses that propagate indefinitely in driven optical resonators. They are sustained by a double balance which prevents them from spreading or declining. This complex mechanism makes them “dissipative structures”, a general term coined by Ilya Prigogine to describe patterns emerging from noise in nonlinear systems. In the past decade, cavity solitons have attracted a lot of attention both for their fundamental interest and many potential applications. This article aims at introducing the reader to these fascinating objects.