title: Optical wall dynamics induced by coexistence of monostable and bistable spatial regions.
abstract: When nonequilibrium extended homogeneous systems exhibit multistability, it leads to the presence of domain walls between the existing equilibria. Depending on the stability of the steady states, the dynamics differs. Here, we consider the interface dynamics in the case of a spatially inhomogeneous system, namely, an optical system where the control parameter is spatially Gaussian. Then interfaces connect the monostable and the bistable nonuniform states that are associated with two distinct spatial regions. The coexistence of these two regions of different stability induces relaxation dynamics and the propagation of a wall with a time-dependent speed. We emphasize analytically these two dynamical behaviors using a generic bistable model. Experimentally, an inhomogeneous Gaussian light beam traveling through either a dye-doped liquid crystal cell or a Kerr cavity depicts these behaviors, in agreement with the theoretical predictions.
authors.affiliation: Univ. Lille, CNRS, UMR 8523 - PhLAM - Physique des Lasers Atomes et Molécules, F-59000 Lille, France.|Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias Físicas y Matemáticas, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 487-3, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Odent
authors.affiliation: Univ. Lille, CNRS, UMR 8523 - PhLAM - Physique des Lasers Atomes et Molécules, F-59000 Lille, France.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Louvergneaux
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias Físicas y Matemáticas, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 487-3, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Clerc
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias Físicas y Matemáticas, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 487-3, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Andrade-Silva