Temporal dynamics of incoherent waves in noninstantaneous response nonlinear Kerr media

Abstract

We consider the temporal evolution of an incoherent optical wave that propagates in a noninstantaneous response nonlinear medium, such as single mode optical fibers. In contrast with the expected Raman-like spectral redshift due to a delayed nonlinear response, we show that a highly noninstantaneous response leads to a genuine modulational instability of the incoherent optical wave. We derive a Vlasov-like kinetic equation that provides a detailed description of this process of incoherent modulational instability in the temporal domain.