Instability of optical solitons in the boundary value problem for a medium of finite extension (Q539062)

The paper under review considers an integrable nonlinear wave system (anisotropic chiral field model), which exhibits a soliton solution to the Cauchy problem for an infinitely long medium. Whenever the boundary value problem is formulated for the same system but for a medium of finite extension, the authors reveal that the soliton becomes unstable and the true attractor is of a different structure. By demonstrating the qualitative difference between nonlinear wave propagation in an infinite medium and in a medium of finite extension, they also point out that solitons may loose their property of being stable attractors.