Optical Rogue Waves and Stimulated Supercontinuum Generation

Daniel R. Solli
Postdoctoral Fellow Optoelectronic Circuits and Systems Laboratory Electrical Engineering
Department, UCLA
3:00 - 3:30PM

Abstract: Maritime folklore tells tales of giant “rogue waves” that can appear and disappear 

without warning on the open ocean. We have recently discovered optical rogue waves—freak brief 

pulses of intense light analogous to the infamous oceanic monsters—propagating through optical 

fiber. By harnessing this effect, we have demonstrated active control over the generation of 

broadband optical pulses known as supercontinuum radiation. Optical rogue waves exemplify the 

extreme instabilities that can arise in nonlinear processes, but ironically, they also reveal a 

means to produce supercontinuum with greatly improved stability and coherence.

Biography:  Daniel Solli is a postdoctoral fellow in The Optoelectronics Circuits and Systems 

Laboratory in the Electrical Engineering Department at UCLA, and recently received the 2008 UCLA 

Chancellor's Award for Postdoctoral Research. His original work on optical rogue waves was 

published in Nature. His research interests include: optical rogue waves and nonlinear phenomena, 

supercontinuum generation, real-time spectroscopy and imaging, biophotonics, and silicon photonics.

He holds a Ph.D. in physics from UC Berkeley