Optical Solitons: Theoretical Challenges and Industrial Perspectives

1 2 V. E. Zakharov and S. Wabnitz 1 L. D. Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, 2 Kosygin Str. , 117334 Moscow, Russia 2 Laboratoire de Physique, University of Bourgogne, 9 avenue A. Savary, 21078 Dijon, France After about a quarter of a century since the first theoretical predictions of op­ tical solitons, the industrial application of the optical soliton concept is near to reality in the booming field of modern telecommunications, where the de­ mand for high-speed data transmission and routing is of ever-growing. This book contains a set of lectures that were presented at a Les Houches school on optical solitons in September 1998. The school was successful in gathering among the lecturers most of the well-recognized world leaders in the field of optical solitons. A variety of different aspects of research into optical solitons was exposed in the lectures, ranging from the mathematical fundations of integrability theory to the rapidly evolving technological advances of fiber soliton-based telecommu­ nication systems. The overall impression that the participants and the students received from the school is that this field of research is an excellent example of the rapid transfer that occurs nowadays from basic science to the technological implementations of the first principles. The subjects that were covered by the lectures can be broadly grouped into four main categories: optical soliton the­ ory, fiber soliton telecommunications, optical soliton generation methods, and all-optical information processing via spatial solitons.