Hamiltonian structure of propagation equations for ultrashort optical pulses

Abstract

A Hamiltonian framework is developed for a sequence of ultrashort optical pulses propagating in a nonlinear dispersive medium. To this end a second-order nonlinear wave equation is first simplified using an unidirectional approximation. All non-resonant nonlinear terms are then rigorously eliminated using a suitable change of variables in the spirit of the canonical perturbation theory. The derived propagation equation operates with a properly defined complexification of the real electric field. It accounts for arbitrary dispersion, four-wave mixing processes, weak absorption, and arbitrary pulse duration. Thereafter the so called normal variables, i.e., classical fields corresponding to the quantum creation and annihilation operators, are introduced. Neglecting absorption we finally derive the Hamiltonian formulation. The latter yields the most essential integrals of motion for the pulse propagation. These integrals reflect the time-averaged fluxes of energy, momentum, and classical photon number transferred by the pulse. The conservation laws are further used to control the numerical solutions when calculating supercontinuum generation by an ultrashort optical pulse.