Optical microcavities in which the solitons were created Credit: Qi-Fan Yang/Caltech
Applied scientists have discovered a new type of optical soliton wave that travels in the wake of other soliton waves, hitching a ride on and feeding off of the energy of the other wave. Solitons are localized waves that act like particles: as they travel across space, they hold their shape and form rather than dispersing as other waves do. They were first discovered in 1834 when Scottish engineer John Scott Russell noted an unusual wave that formed after the sudden stop of a barge in the Union Canal that runs between Falkirk and Edinburgh. Russell tracked the resulting wave for 1or 2 miles, and noted that it preserved its shape as it traveled, until he ultimately lost sight of it.
He dubbed his discovery ...
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