FORMATION OF SOLITONS ON THE SHARP FRONT OF THE PULSE IN AN OPTICAL-FIBER

The evolution of a long light pulse with the sharp front in a nonlinea r optical fiber is investigated analytically. The Whitham method of sl ow modulation of a nonlinear periodic wave is used for the description of soliton formation. It is shown that the self-steepening nonlineari ty in the generalized nonlinear Schrodinger equation considerably infl uences this process. The time of soliton formation and the number of c reated solitons as functions of fiber length are estimated. (C) 1998 E lsevier Science B.V.