Bright and dark solitary nonlinear Bloch waves in dispersion managed fiber systems and soliton lasers

The nonlinear Bloch theorem for the fundamental and higher-order Schrodinger solitons in periodic dispersive and nonlinear structures has been proven. It is shown that bright and dark solitary nonlinear Bloch waves exist only under certain conditions and that the parameters describing dispersion and nonlinearity periodic inhomogeneities cannot be chosen independently. The formation, interaction and stability of the fundamental and higher-order solitary nonlinear Bloch waves have been investigated. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.