Observation of modulational instability in optical fibers

Abstract

We report the first observation of the modulational instability of light waves in dielectric material using a neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet laser operated at 1.319 \ensuremath{\mu}m and single-mode optical fibers with anomalous group-velocity dispersion. The observed results are in good agreement with the theoretical predictions. The relationship between the modulation instability and parametric four-wave mixing and the interplay with stimulated Raman and Brillouin scatterings are also presented.