Observation of Discrete, Vortex Light Bullets

We report the first experimental observation of vortex light bullets that are discrete, spatiotemporal, solitary waves with orbital angular momentum. We analyze conditions for their existence and investigate their rich properties and dynamics. Vortex light bullets are excited in fiber arrays with sp...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Falk Eilenberger, Karin Prater, Stefano Minardi, Reinhard Geiss, Ulrich Röpke, Jens Kobelke, Kay Schuster, Hartmut Bartelt, Stefan Nolte, Andreas Tünnermann, Thomas Pertsch
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Physical Society 2013-12-01
Series:Physical Review X
Online Access:http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.3.041031
Description
Summary:We report the first experimental observation of vortex light bullets that are discrete, spatiotemporal, solitary waves with orbital angular momentum. We analyze conditions for their existence and investigate their rich properties and dynamics. Vortex light bullets are excited in fiber arrays with spatially shaped femtosecond pulses and analyzed with a spatiotemporal cross correlator. Most importantly, we find that they have entirely new stability properties, being robust against considerable degrees of perturbation in a limited range of energies. All experimental findings are backed up by rigorous simulations, giving further insight into the rich dynamics of vortex light bullets.
ISSN:2160-3308