Complex dynamics and configurational entropy of spatial optical solitons in nonlocal media

Abstract

Intense light propagating in a nonlinear medium can generate an ensemble of interacting filaments of light, or spatial solitons. Using nematic liquid crystals, we demonstrate that they undergo a collective behavior typical of complex systems, including the formation of clusters and soundlike vibrations, as well as the reduction of the configurational entropy, controlled by the degree of nonlocality of the medium.

Mode-locking transitions in nanostructured weakly disordered lasers

“…The value ζ = 0, corresponding to the paramagnetic solution, always solves equation (17), but it gives the stable (lower free-energy) solution only for low β (high T ). On lowering T , at T o = 0.717 other solutions appear, such that ζ = 0.…”

“…The PEL, as a manifold in the configurational phase space, has many stationary points (typically minima and saddles) [15], whose distribution strongly affects the thermodynamics (and the dynamics) of the system. Recently this paradigm, developed to investigate the glass transition phenomena, has been applied to the field of photonics, including optical solitons [16,17] and random-lasers [18,19]. In this respect, it is worth to note that the geometrical interpretation of the laser threshold was recognized since the beginning of laser theory, and is considered as one of the successful applications of catastrophe-theory, which classifies the singularities of multi-dimensional manifolds [7,20].…”

Modulation analysis of boundary-induced motion of optical solitary waves in a nematic liquid crystal

“…In this scenario, nematicons -i.e. spatial optical solitons in nematic liquid crystals [10,11] -have stirred attention as a convenient playground for a number of fundamental and applied properties of optical solitons, including the role of nonlocality, not only as a stabilizing mechanism which prevents catastrophic collapse in two transverse dimensions, but also as a long-range link between two or more nematicons, nematicons and extra beams, and nematicons and perturbations, including the boundaries of a cell [12][13][14][15]. This latter aspect, i.e.…”

Stable and metastable states and the formation and destruction of breathers in the discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equation

“…The discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equation iφ n = φ n+1 + φ n−1 + φ n |φ n | 2 (1) models coupled optical waveguides [1][2][3][4] and Bose-Einstein condensates trapped in a periodic potential [5]. It describes the dynamics of a chain of complex oscillators φ n at lattice site n. It is a remarkable property of this equation that it spontaneously generates localized modes or discrete breathers for many types of initial conditions.…”