EFFECT OF COUPLING STRENGTH FLUCTUATIONS ON SOLITON SWITCHING IN NONLINEAR COUPLERS

We numerically analyse the effect of coupling strength random fluctuat ions on both dynamic and static soliton snitching in symmetric nonline ar couplers. As in the cw case, the effect is generally found to be st rong only near the switching regions. In the dynamical switching regim e, the effect appears to increase with the length of the coupler at a rate twice as large for odd multiples of the linear coupling length, p i/2, than for even ones. In the static case, the region of bistability shows the greatest change in the effect of random fluctuations, with a maximum at exactly the first bifurcation point. The solitons also ap pear to be quite stable against the random fluctuations in the sense t hat no pulse distortion or emission of dispersive radiation was detect ed. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.