Dissipative photonic lattice solitons.

We show that discrete dissipative optical lattice solitons are possible in waveguide array configurations that involve periodically patterned semiconductor optical amplifiers and saturable absorbers. The characteristics of these low-power soliton states are investigated, and their propagation constant eigenvalues are mapped on Floquet-Bloch band diagrams. The prospect of observing such low-power dissipative lattice solitons is discussed in detail.

Coherent interactions of dissipative spatial solitons.

We report observation of the interaction between two coherent dissipative spatial solitons in a periodically patterned semiconductor optical amplifier with power levels of tens of milliwatts. The interactions are nonlocal and phase dependent and exhibit surprising features, such as soliton birth. The experimental results are in good agreement with the numerical simulations.

Stable dissipative solitons in semiconductor optical amplifiers.

We have observed for the first time stable spatial solitons in semiconductor optical amplifiers. Soliton destabilization due to the growth of background noise was suppressed by using patterned electrodes on the device. Numerical simulations fit very well with the experiment results.