Inversion and tight focusing of Airy pulses under the action of third-order dispersion

By means of direct simulations and theoretical analysis, we study the nonlinear propagation of truncated Airy pulses in an optical fiber exhibiting both anomalous second-order and strong positive third-order dispersions (TOD). It is found that the Airy pulse first reaches a finite-size focal area as determined by the relative strength of the two dispersion terms, and then undergoes an inversion transformation such that it continues to travel with an opposite acceleration. The system notably features tight focusing if the TOD is a dominant factor. These effects are partially reduced by Kerr nonlinearity. (C) 2013 Optical Society of America