Abstract:
Methods for direct numerical integration of a system of nonlinear Maxwell's equations are used to establish a quantitative criterion of the validity of the method of slowly varying amplitudes and of a generalised model of the nonlinear Schroedinger equation in a description of the dynamics of femtosecond optical solitons. It is shown that Schroedinger solitons may be converted nonlinearly into Maxwellian wave solitons, whose special property is motion not only in the usual space and time, but also in the spectral space. Moreover, it should be possible to generate a pulse of duration amounting to one period of oscillations of the electromagnetic field in the course of amplification of a Maxwellian soliton.