Polarization Evolution and Polarization Instability of Solitons in a Birefringent Optical Fiber

Ultrashort optical solitons with different states of polarization are used to map the polarization evolution in a fixed section of a weakly birefringent fiber. Soliton polarization evolution was compared to linear propagation. A significant change in the polarization behavior between the solitons and linear regime is observed. Although solitons contain a continuum of instantaneous intensities, they transform their polarization as a unit, demonstrating the particlelike nature of solitons.