Dynamical properties of discrete solitons in optical waveguide arrays

We have shown that the dynamical properties of discrete systems differ from those of continuous systems considerably. We experimentally demonstrated that initially moving solitons are finally captured by the initial waveguide if a certain power level is reached. On the contrary the decay of unstable solitons centered between two waveguides may result in a considerable sidewards motion across the array. We found that the initial displacements of the initial beam can be amplified at the output facet up to a factor of ten. All these dynamical properties are very much power dependent and may therefore be employed for all-optical switching and routing applications