Solitons in lossy fibers

We consider the evolution of fiber-optic solitons in the presence of dissipation. Even very low loss ultimately leads to their decay. We derive an explicit expression for the limit of adiabaticity, and discuss the evolution beyond this limit. In determining the soliton content of the optical pulse, we contrast earlier approaches using inverse scattering with a soliton-radiation beat method. It turns out that the evolution beyond adiabaticity is governed by uncertainty, which earlier published studies had missed. Somewhat in analogy to the uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics, we derive a soliton uncertainty relation. We also give simple relations for the evolution of the pulse width which reproduce numerical studies very well.