Coupled periodic waves with opposite dispersions in a nonlinear optical fiber

Using the Hirota's method and elliptic θ-functions, we obtain three families of exact periodic (cnoidal) wave solutions for two nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equations coupled by XPM (cross-phase-modulation) terms, with a ratio σ of the XPM and SPM (self-phase-modulation) coefficients. Unlike the previous works, we obtain the solutions for the case when the coefficients of the group-velocity-dispersion (GVD) in the coupled equations have opposite signs. In the limit of the infinite period, the solutions with σ > 1 carry over into inverted bound states of bright and dark solitons in the normal- and anomalous-GVD modes (known as “symbiotic solitons”), while the infinite-period solution with σ < 1 is an uninverted bound state (also an unstable one). The case of σ = 2 is of direct interest to fiber-optic telecommunications, as it corresponds to a scheme with a pulse stream in an anomalous-GVD payload channel stabilized by a concomitant strong periodic signal in a mate normal-GVD channel. The case of arbitrary σ may be implemented in a dual-core waveguide. To understand the stability of the coupled waves, we first analytically explore the modulational stability of CW (constant-amplitude) solutions, concluding that they may be completely stable for σ ⩾ 1, provided that the absolute value of the GVD coefficient is smaller in the anomalous-GVD mode than in the normal-GVD one, and certain auxiliary conditions on the amplitudes are met. The stability of the exact cnoidal-wave solutions is tested in direct simulations. We infer that, while, strictly speaking, in the practically significant case of σ = 2 all the solutions are unstable, in many cases the instability may be strongly attenuated, rendering the above-mentioned paired channels scheme usable. In particular, the instability is milder for a smaller period of the wave pattern, and/or if the anomalous GVD is weaker than the normal GVD in the mate channel. When the instability sets in, it first initiates quasi-reversible modulations, and only at a later stage the wave pattern decays into a “turbulent” state.