Symmetry-breaking instability of multimode vector solitons.
We show experimentally that the two-component multimode spatial optical vector soliton, i.e., a two-hump self-guided laser beam, exhibits in Kerr media a sharp space-inversion symmetry-breaking instability. The experiment is performed in a CS2 planar waveguide using the orthogonal circular polarization states of light as the two components of the vector soliton.
Laboratoire d'Optique P. M. Duffieux, U.M.R. CNRS/Université de Franche-Comté 6603, 16, route de Gray, 25030 Besançon Cedex, France.
C
C
Cambournac
T
T
Sylvestre
H
H
Maillotte
B
B
Vanderlinden
P
P
Kockaert
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P
Emplit
M
M
Haelterman