Soliton pulse propagation in the presence of disorder-induced multiple scattering in photonic crystal waveguides

Abstract: We introduce a new coupled mode theory to model nonlinear Schr\"odinger equations for contra- propagating Bloch modes that include disorder-induced multiple scattering effects on nonlinear soliton propagation in photonic crystal waveguides. We also derive sub unit-cell coupling coefficients and use these to introduce a generalized length scale associated with each coupling effect. In particular, we define a multiple-scattering length scale that quantifies the spatial extent of a disorder- induced cavity mode. Our numerical simulations of nonlinear pulse propagation are in excellent qualitative agreement with recent experiments and provide insight into how disorder inhibits soliton propagation and other nonlinear propagation effects in photonic crystal waveguides.