Steering the propagation of photovoltaic solitons by spatial phase modulation

A simple scheme is presented to steer the propagation of a spatial photovoltaic soliton in a photovoltaic crystal. The basic idea is to impose a sinusoidal phase modulation on the light beam before entering the crystal. It is found that the self-deflection, soliton-like propagation, annihilation and splitting of this spatial-phase-modulated (SPM) beam can be realized by choosing appropriate modulation parameters; besides, a SPM beam can produce a waveguide with strong stability to steer a non-phase-modulated beam. These unique properties would have potential applications in the optical switch, splitter, modulator, and waveguide, etc. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.