Solitary wave formation in one‐dimensional photonic crystals

Abstract We present a variational approach to the problem of solitary wave formation in one‐dimensional nonlinear photonic crystals. In particular, we analyze how an arbitrary initial pulse is reshaped into a stable solitary wave by shedding excess radiation. Owing to the strong Bragg‐scattering near photonic band edges this reshaping results in non‐trivial dynamics and we show that within the variational framework we can quantitatively describe this complex wave dynamics for relatively short times. For longer times, the results become less accurate but still allow a qualitatively correct description. Finally, we discuss how an improved handling of the coupling to radiation modes can lead to an accurate description of the long‐term behavior. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)