title: Transverse instability of vector solitons and generation of dipole arrays.
abstract: We develop a theory of modulational instability of multiparameter solitary waves and analyze the transverse instability of composite (or vector) optical solitons in a saturable nonlinear medium. We demonstrate theoretically and experimentally that a soliton stripe breaks up into an array of ( 2+1)-dimensional dipole-mode vector solitons, thus confirming the robust nature of those solitons as fundamental composite structures of incoherently coupled fields.
authors.affiliation: Nonlinear Physics Group, Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering, The Institute of Advanced Studies, The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Neshev
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Krolikowski
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Pelinovsky
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: McCarthy
authors.forename: Y S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Kivshar