title: Experimental Generation of Riemann Waves in Optics: A Route to Shock Wave Control.
abstract: We report the first observation of Riemann (simple) waves, which play a crucial role for understanding the dynamics of any shock-bearing system. This was achieved by properly tailoring the phase of an ultrashort light pulse injected into a highly nonlinear fiber. Optical Riemann waves are found to evolve in excellent quantitative agreement with the remarkably simple inviscid Burgers equation, whose applicability in physical systems is often challenged by viscous or dissipative effects. Our method allows us to further demonstrate a viable novel route to efficiently control the shock formation by the proper shaping of a laser pulse phase. Our results pave the way towards the experimental study, in a convenient benchtop setup, of complex physical phenomena otherwise difficult to access.
authors: Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université du Québec, Varennes, Québec J3X 1S2, Canada.|School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Sussex, Sussex House, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9RH, United Kingdom.
authors: Benjamin
authors: B
authors: Wetzel
authors: Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université du Québec, Varennes, Québec J3X 1S2, Canada.
authors: Domenico
authors: D
authors: Bongiovanni
authors: Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université du Québec, Varennes, Québec J3X 1S2, Canada.
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Kues
authors: The MOE Key Laboratory of Weak-Light Nonlinear Photonics, and TEDA Applied Physics Institute and School of Physics, Nankai University, Tianjin 300457, China.
authors: Yi
authors: Y
authors: Hu
authors: The MOE Key Laboratory of Weak-Light Nonlinear Photonics, and TEDA Applied Physics Institute and School of Physics, Nankai University, Tianjin 300457, China.|Department of Physics and Astronomy, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California 94132, USA.
authors: Zhigang
authors: Z
authors: Chen
authors: Dipartimento di Ingegneria, Università di Ferrara, Via Saragat 1, 44122 Ferrara, Italy.
authors: Stefano
authors: S
authors: Trillo
authors: Institut FEMTO-ST, UMR 6174 CNRS-Université de Franche-Comté, 25030 Besançon, France.
authors: John M
authors: JM
authors: Dudley
authors: Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Informazione, Università degli Studi di Brescia, and INO-CNR, via Branze 38, I-25123 Brescia, Italy.
authors: Stefano
authors: S
authors: Wabnitz
authors: Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université du Québec, Varennes, Québec J3X 1S2, Canada.|Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, China.
authors: Roberto
authors: R
authors: Morandotti