Long-distance evolution in transient stimulated Raman scattering

Abstract

Systems that exhibit stimulated Raman scattering in the transient limit have long been the subject of theoretical and experimental study, and recent experimental developments have made possible the observation of the long-distance evolution of these systems. These systems are integrable using the inverse scattering method; however, in contrast to the usual behavior in integrable systems, solitons do not dominate the long-distance behavior. Instead, solitons are transient, and self-similarity appears in the long-distance limit. In this paper, the similarity solutions of the equations which describe stimulated Raman scattering are first reviewed from a physical standpoint. Inverse scattering theory is then used to show that given physically reasonable initial data in which the pump and Stokes waves have no linear frequency mismatch, the solution will converge toward a self-similar solution. These results are confirmed by a numerical comparison of the solution of the transient, stimulated Raman-scattering equations to the appropriate self-similar solutions. The length scale over which convergence occurs and the transient generation of solitons are observed. From a physical standpoint, the appearance of self-similarity rather than solitons in the long-distance limit can be attributed to the presence of memory in the Raman-active medium. Other systems with memory also exhibit self-similarity, and the results which are described here may have applications to a wide array of optical systems with memory. An experiment which could observe self-similarity is described.