Section: Application Domains

Laser physics

Our contribution to the analysis of models in laser physics is motivated by the LabEx CEMPI (Centre Européen pour les Mathématiques, la Physique et leurs Interactions, a large eight-year research and training project approved by the French government in February 2012 as a "Laboratoire d'Excellence" and an initiative of mathematicians and physicists of the Université Lille 1). For this application domain, we work in close collaboration with physicists, which ensures our direct impact on these scientific issues. We focus on two applications: optical fibers and cold atoms.

In collaboration with physicists from the PhLAM laboratory in Lille, we aim at developping new techniques for the numerical integration of a family of 1D Schrödinger-like equations modelling the propagation of laser pulses in optical fibers. The questions arising are challenging since physicists would like to have fairly fast and cheap methods for their problems, with correct qualitative and quantitative behaviors. Another point is that they are interested in methods and codes that are able to handle different physical situations, hence different terms in the NLS equation. To meet these requirements, we will have to use numerical time-integration techniques such as splitting methods or exponential Runge-Kutta methods, space discretization techniques such as finite differences and fast Fourier transforms, and absorbent boundary conditions. Our goal, together with the physicists is to be able to reproduce numerically the results of the experiments they make in actual optical fibers, and then to be able to tune parameters numerically to get more insight into the appearance of rogue waves beyond the dispersive blowup phenomenon.

Recall that the Schrödinger equation also describes Bose-Einstein condensates. A second experimental team at PhLAM projects to study questions related to Anderson localization in such condensates. In fact, they will realize the "kicked rotor" (see [60]), which provides a paradigm for Anderson localization, in a Bose-Einstein condensate. We plan to collaborate with them on the theoretical underpinnings of their findings, which pose many challenging questions.