Hannover 2003 – scientific programme

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SYNO: Nichtlineare und transversale Optik

SYNO IV: HV IV

SYNO IV.1: Invited Talk

Monday, March 24, 2003, 15:30–16:00, F142

Spatial optical solitons and soliton clusters — •A. Desyatnikov^1,2, Yu. Kivshar¹, and C. Denz² — ¹Nonlinear Physics Group, Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering,The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia — ²Institut für Angewandte Physik, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster

One of the goals of modern nonlinear optics is the development of the ultimate fast, all-optical device in which light can be used to control light. The unique possibilities of reconfigurable circuits created in nonlinear bulk media without any fabricated optical waveguide can be achieved by employing the fundamental concept of light guiding light, based on the propagation of spatial optical solitons. Spatial solitons, or self-trapped, self-guided light beams that do not spread because of diffraction when they propagate in a nonlinear bulk medium, are considered information-carrying units, and the process of all-optical switching can be associated with the evolution of different types of spatial optical solitons and the interactions between them. Solitons behave like real particles and exhibit ”forces” during interactions. Research into this analogy recently led to the concept of ”light molecules”, multicomponent spatial solitons and soliton clusters which can be regarded as more complex composite objects consisting of coupled states of simpler, scalar solitons, or ”atoms of light”. We present an overview on recent theoretical predictions of higher-order spatial optical solitons and soliton clusters. The numerical results are confirmed with experimental realisation of multipole and necklace-ring vector solitons in photorefractive medium.