Propagation of two orthogonally polarized time-delayed optical solitons in low-birefringence optical fiber is studied experimentally. We demonstrate soliton trapping and collisions and also the ability to control the separation and shape of soliton pulses by varying the power at the input of the fiber.

A reformulation of the diatomics-in-molecules method is presented. Because energies are obtained directly from the non-Hermitian matrix S−1H, overlap is included exactly in the present formulation. The simplicity and potential accuracy of the method are demonstrated by application to the H3 molecule, with inclusion of ionic configurations.

Ion exchange is a popular technique for chemically strengthening alkali‐containing glass articles, such as Corning® Gorilla® Glass. The ion exchange process is based on a replacement of small alkali ions in the glass with larger alkali ions from a molten salt bath through inter‐diffusion. As the larger alkali ions from the salt bath supplant the smaller alkali ions in the glass, a compressive stress profile is generated near the surface of the glass, which increases its strength and damage resistance. However, certain applications of high‐tech glasses require alkali‐free environments, such as glasses used as substrates for flat panel display applications. In this paper, we report the first successful chemical strengthening of an alkali‐free glass. This is achieved via an aqueous ion exchange of barium salts under high pressure and temperature. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveals that Ba2+ replaces both Ca2+ and B3+ in the glass, producing surface compressive stress values near 200 MPa. This technology may enable chemical strengthening for a wide range of applications, including flat panel display substrates.

The choice of wavelength division multiplexer (WDM) couplers for use in fiber-based optical amplifiers is extremely important to obtain optimum device performance. At a minimum, these devices need to have low insertion loss at the doped-fiber pump and signal wavelengths, λp and λs. Small splice losses between the coupler input pigtail and the incoming telecommunication fiber at λs and between the coupler output pigtail and the Er-doped gain fiber at λs and λp are important to maximize amplifier signal-to-noise and to efficiently use available pump power. In addition, in high-gain amplifier applications, coupler backscatter and crosstalk may also impact noise. Finally, as practical amplifiers tend towards smaller physical size, bend induced loss in the coupler pigtails also becomes an important factor.

No abstract