title: Bloch oscillations in optical dissipative lattices.
abstract: We show that Bloch oscillations are possible in dissipative optical waveguide lattices with a linearly varying propagation constant. These oscillations occur in spite of the fact that the Bloch wave packet experiences coupling gain and (or) loss. Experimentally, this process can be observed in different settings, such as in laser arrays and lattices of semiconductor optical amplifiers. In addition, we demonstrate that these systems can suppress instabilities arising from preferential mode noise growth.
authors.affiliation: School of Optics, Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida 32816, USA.
authors.forename: Nikolaos K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Efremidis
authors.forename: Demetrios N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Christodoulides