PROPERTIES OF AN OPTICAL SOLITON GAS

We consider light pulses propagating in an optical fiber ring resonato r with anomalous dispersion. New pulses are fed in to the resonator in synchronism with its round-trip time. We show that solitary pulse sha ping leads to a formation of an ensemble of subpulses that are identif ied as solitons. All solitons in the ensemble are in perpetual relativ e motion like molecules in a fluid, thus, we refer to the ensemble as a soliton gas. Properties of this soliton gas are determined numerical ly.