Propagation dynamics of Airy pulses in optical fibers with periodic dispersion modulation

The evolution dynamics of temporal Airy pulses in optical fibers with periodic dispersion modulation are numerically studied. We show that in a quasilinear regime with a low pump power, the finite-energy Airy waves may endlessly retain their shapes and follow preengineered temporal trajectories, forming accelerating or decelerating light bullets. We also demonstrate that Airy wave packets are more capable of adapting to the dispersion variation than the temporal sech-shaped pulses below a moderate pump power. However, the Airy nature of the pulse will eventually vanish due to the detrimental role of optical nonlinearities in the regime of high pump power, and the boundary between the linear and nonlinear dynamics is also analyzed. Numerical results are consistent with the theoretical predictions. Our approach gives insights into exploring the Airy light bullets in nonlinear and biological optics.