Optical vortex solitons and nonlinear Aharonov-Bohm effect

D. Neshev, A. A. Nepomnyashchy, Y. S. Kivshar

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    We study the scattering properties of optical vortex solitons generated in a self-defocusing nonlinear Kerr medium, analyzing both linear and nonlinear wave scattering. In the linear case, we find a splitting of a plane-wave front at the optical vortex proportional to the vortex circulation, similar to what occurs in the scattered wave of electrons for the Aharonov-Bohm effect. For larger wave amplitudes, we study analytically and numerically the scattering of a dark-soliton stripe, a nonlinear analog of a small-amplitude wavepacket, by a vortex and observe a significant asymmetry of the scattered wave. Subsequently, a wavefront splitting of the scattered Wave develops into transverse modulational (snake) instability of the stripe that generates two trains of vortices with opposite charges.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)192-199
    Number of pages8
    JournalProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
    Volume4403
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2001

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