Optical spatial solitons: historical perspectives

摘要

Optical spatial solitons are self-trapped optical beams that existnby virtue of the balance between diffraction and nonlinearity. Theynpropagate and interact with one another while displaying properties thatnare normally associated with real particles. Solitons, in general,nmanifest themselves in a large variety of wave/particle systems innnature: practically in any system that possesses both dispersion (inntime or space) and nonlinearity. Solitons have been identified innoptics, plasmas, fluids, condensed matter, particle physics, andnastrophysics. Yet over the past decade, the forefront of solitonnresearch has shifted to optics. In the paper, we describe the historicalnevolution of spatial solitons from speculative creatures to one of thenmost fascinating features optics has to offer