Anomalous Interaction of Spatial Solitons in Photorefractive Media

Wiesław Królikowski; M. Saffman; Barry Luther-Davies; Cornelia Denz

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.80.3240

Anomalous Interaction of Spatial Solitons in Photorefractive Media

Wiesław Królikowski, M. Saffman, Barry Luther-Davies, and Cornelia Denz

Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 3240 – Published 13 April 1998

Abstract

We investigate the interaction of mutually incoherent spatial solitons in photorefractive media with anisotropic nonlocal nonlinear response. We show that the photorefractive nonlinearity leads to an anomalous interaction between solitons. Theoretical and experimental results reveal that an incoherent soliton pair may experience both attractive and repulsive forces, depending on their mutual separation.

Received 14 November 1997

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.80.3240

Authors & Affiliations

Wiesław Królikowski¹, M. Saffman², Barry Luther-Davies¹, and Cornelia Denz³

¹Australian Photonics Cooperative Research Centre, Laser Physics Centre, Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering, The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia
²Optics and Fluid Dynamics Department, Risø National Laboratory, Postbox 49, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark
³Institute of Applied Physics, Darmstadt University of Technology, D 64283, Darmstadt, Germany