title: Collisions between optical spatial solitons propagating in opposite directions.
abstract: We formulate the theory describing the evolution and interactions between optical spatial solitons that propagate in opposite directions. We show that coherent collisions between counterpropagating solitons give rise to a new focusing mechanism resulting from the interference between the beams, and that interactions between such solitons are insensitive to the relative phase between the beams.
authors.affiliation: Physics Department and Solid State Institute, Technion, Haifa 32000, Israel.
authors.forename: Oren
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: Raam
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Uzdin
authors.forename: Tal
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Carmon
authors.forename: Jason W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Fleischer
authors.forename: Mordechai
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Segev
authors.forename: Serguey
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Odouov