| Although temporal soliton propagation in nonlinear optical fibers has been well established in the scientific literature, the discovery of the spatial soliton in nonlinear planar guiding structures is only a recent event. In order to make use of the special properties of the spatial soliton for designs of nonlinear integrated optical devices, various effects on the spatial soliton and its behavior under nonlinear interaction with another soliton must be well understood. In this dissertation, the basic equation governing the propagation of spatial solitons in nonlinear planar structures is derived. A theoretical analysis of the equation using the Inverse Scattering transform produces the soliton solution under restricted initial conditions. Much of the physical behavior of the solution is masked by the complicated procedure of the analytical technique. Since the numerical approach is the only alternative in gaining an understanding of the physics of the soliton propagation phenomena, a reformulation of the equation in the form of linear Schrodinger equation produces a quantum mechanics potential well model for the nonlinear propagation. Some well known quantum mechanical parameters are used in this model to define the effects on the propagating soliton. Based on these effects, the condition under which the formation of soliton in a non-linear medium is evaluated numerically by the Beam Propagation method. The parameters of two most frequently used light sources, the Gaussian beam and the {dollar}TEsb0{dollar} waveguide mode, are determined in terms of the physical constants of the media. In addition, the nonlinear interaction between two propagating solitons are analyzed numerically and the behavior of the solitons is quantified by the relative amplitude and phase. The understanding of this behavior results in a design of an all-optical switch using the nonlinear behavior of spatial soliton. The performance of this switch is analyzed based on power transmission efficiency and threshold power. The compact size and the switching speed of this device are evident from the design, and the advantages of using material with higher loss are discussed. In addition, the possible applications of this switch in optical signal processing and optical computing are demonstrated. |
