We consider ultrashort light pulse propagation through an inhomogeneous monomodal optical fiber exhibiting higher-order dispersive effects. Wave propagation is governed by a generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation with varying second-, third-, and fourth-order dispersions, cubic nonlinearity, and linear gain or loss. We construct a type of exact self-similar soliton solution that takes the structure of a dipole via a similarity transformation connected to the related constant-coefficients one. The conditions on the optical-fiber parameters for the existence of these self-similar structures are also given. The results show that the contribution of all orders of dispersion is an important feature to form this kind of self-similar dipole pulse shape. The dynamic behaviors of the self-similar dipole solitons in a periodic distributed amplification system are analyzed. The significance of the obtained self-similar pulses is also discussed. By performing numerical simulations, the self-similar soliton solutions are found to be stable under slight disturbance of the constraint conditions and the initial perturbation of white noise.

• Received 30 October 2019
• Revised 26 February 2020
• Accepted 9 April 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.101.042220