James P. Gordon: Difference between revisions

Much of Gordon's later career focused on the study of soliton transmission in optical fibers. He reported the first experimental observation of solitons in optical fibers in a paper co-authored with R.H. Stolen and [[Linn F. Mollenauer|L.F. Mollenauer]].<ref name="ref13"/> In a seminal 1986 paper, Gordon explained and formulated the theory of the soliton self-frequency shift that had been observed prior to that in experiments.<ref name="ref14"/> In the same year, together with Prof. [[H. A. Haus]] of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he predicted and quantified the timing-jitter effect resulting from the coupling between solitons and optical amplification noise in amplified optical systems.<ref name="ref15"/> This effect was shown to be one of the most fundamental factors in determining the performance of soliton systems and it is now broadly recognized as the Gordon-Haus effect.<ref name="ref16"/> In 1990, Gordon and Mollenauer predicted and analyzed the enhancement of phase-noise as a result of the optical nonlinearity of fibers.<ref name="ref16.5"/> This phenomenon, often referred to as the Gordon-Mollenauer effect, was a key factor in preventing the use of solitons in coherent optical communications.