Abstract

The dynamics of higher-order solitons in fibers has received growing attention in the past years, in particular because these solitons are at the heart of the soltion fission process during supercontinuum generation [1]. Soliton fission of a higher-order solitons into several fundamental ones [2,3] is based on a modulation instability, which limits the coherence of the supercontinua and their potential for applications [4]. Here we present a new type of dynamics of higher order solitons. This extreme dynamics arise when the input soliton exhibits a few-cycle duration and a rather high pulse energy. Rather than the usual soliton fission, such particular solitons experience an abrupt shortening and shock formation, accompanied by huge spectral broadening. During this previously undisclosed process, the energy is completely transferred to a dispersive wave, i.e., no soliton remains.

© 2015 IEEE