Exactly Solvable Model for Nonlinear Pulse Propagation in Optical Fibers

The nonlinear Schr r odinger (NLS) equation is a fundamental model for the nonlinear propagation of light pulses in optical fibers. We consider an integrable generalization of the NLS equation, which was first derived by means of bi-Hamiltonian methods in [1]. The purpose of the present paper is threefold: (a) We show how this generalized NLS equation arises as a model for nonlinear pulse propagation in monomode optical fibers when certain higher- order nonlinear effects are taken into account; (b) We show that the equation is equivalent, up to a simple change of variables, to the first negative member of the integrable hierarchy associated with the derivative NLS equation; (c) We analyze traveling- wave solutions.