Bright Spatial Solitons on a Partially Incoherent Background

Tamer H. Coskun; Demetrios N. Christodoulides; Young-Rae Kim; Zhigang Chen; Marin Soljacic; Mordechai Segev

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.2374

Bright Spatial Solitons on a Partially Incoherent Background

Tamer H. Coskun, Demetrios N. Christodoulides, Young-Rae Kim, Zhigang Chen, Marin Soljacic, and Mordechai Segev

Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 2374 – Published 13 March 2000

Abstract

We present the first observation of incoherent antidark spatial solitons in noninstantaneous nonlinear media. This new class of soliton states involves bright solitons on a partially incoherent background of infinite extent. In the case where the nonlinearity is of the Kerr type, their existence is demonstrated analytically by means of an exact solution. Computer simulations and experiments indicate that these incoherent antidark solitons can propagate in a stable fashion provided that the spatial coherence of their background is reduced below the incoherent modulation instability threshold.

Received 1 October 1999

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.2374

Authors & Affiliations

Tamer H. Coskun^* and Demetrios N. Christodoulides

Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015

Young-Rae Kim and Zhigang Chen

Department of Physics and Astronomy, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California 94132

Marin Soljacic

Physics Department, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544

Mordechai Segev

Physics Department, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel and Electrical Engineering Department, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544