Modulational instability and space-time dynamics in nonlinear parabolic-index optical fibers

Beam propagation in multimode graded-index parabolic optical fibers in the presence of group-velocity dispersion and Kerr nonlinearity is theoretically investigated. It is shown that a modulational instability arising from the periodic spatial focusing of the beam takes place regardless of the sign of fiber dispersion, leading to a highly nonlinear space-time dynamics and the generation of ultrashort optical pulses. (C) 2003 Optical Society of America.