title: Spatiotemporal dynamics of soliton arrays generated from spatial noise in a planar waveguide with relaxing Kerr nonlinearity.
abstract: Quasi-periodic arrays of bright soliton-like beams are obtained experimentally in the picosecond regime as a result of the transverse modulational instability of a noisy continuous background in a planar CS2 waveguide. For a given propagation length, the array is stable from a laser shot to another and for a wide range of input intensities. The experimental period corresponds to the maximum gain of modulational instability only for the intensity just sufficient for soliton formation. On the other hand the mean period increases with the propagation length. We show by a numerical simulation that the leading edge of the pulse governs the dynamical formation of the array owing to the finite relaxation time of the reorientational Kerr nonlinearity in CS2.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lantz
authors.forename: Cyril
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cambournac
authors.forename: Hervé
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Maillotte