Characterization of coherent structures in dissipative systems using nonlinear Fourier transform

Abstract

We demonstrated how the nonlinear Fourier transform based on the Zakharov-Shabat spectral problem can be used to characterise coherent structures in dissipative systems. We consider as a particular, albeit important practical example model equation that is widely used to analyse laser radiation and demonstrate that dissipative solitons can be described by a limited number of degrees of freedom - discrete eigenvalues. Our approach can be applied for signal processing in a number of optical systems, from lasers to micro-resonators.