title: Vortex emission accompanies the advection of optical localized structures.
abstract: We show that the advection of optical localized structures is accompanied by the emission of vortices, with phase singularities appearing in the wake of the drifting structure. Localized structures are obtained in a light-valve experiment and made to drift by a mirror tilt in the feedback loop. Pairs of oppositely charged vortices are detected for small drifts, whereas for large drifts a vortex array develops. Observations are supported by numerical simulations and linear stability analysis of the system equations and are expected to be generic for a large class of translated optical patterns.
authors.affiliation: INLN, Université de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, CNRS, 1361 route des Lucioles 06560 Valbonne, France.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Haudin
authors.forename: R G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Rojas
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Bortolozzo
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Clerc
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Residori