NONLINEAR PROPAGATION IN SUPERSTRUCTURE BRAGG GRATINGS

The existence of solitary waves in superstructure Bragg gratings is ex perimentally demonstrated, confirming theoretical predictions. We obse rve nonlinear compression as a result of a combination of the negative dispersion of the grating and the nonlinear phase shift associated wi th the pulse intensity. We also demonstrate that, in a superstructure Bragg grating,the dispersion is continuously tunable from normal to an omalous, which allows us to manipulate the shape of the transmitted pu lse. (C) 1996 Optical Society of America