INTERCONVERSION OF SOLITONS IN HOMOGENEOUS, NONLINEAR DISPERSIVE GAINMEDIA

We demonstrate that in stationary, spatially homogeneous nonlinear med ia, interconversion of different-type solitary waves can occur as a re sult of spectral inhomogeneity of the medium parameters. As compared w ith the classical mode conversion in propagation through a spatially n onuniform medium, this interconversion effect is accompanied by a drif t of the wave spectra in the frequency domain and their subsequent con version by reflection at spectral turning points. By analyzing the Sch rodinger and dissipative optical solitons, we show that such interconv ersion may result in the periodic self-oscillations of soliton spectra in nonlinear media with a frequency-dependent gain. (C) 1998 Optical Society of America.