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Vortex-stripe soliton interactions

Yuri S. Kivshar
Optical Sciences Center, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia

Alexander Nepomnyashchy
Department of Mathematics and Minerva Center for Physics of Complex Systems, Technion Israel Institute of Technology, 32000 Haifa, Israel

Vladimir Tikhonenko, Jason Christou, and Barry Luther-Davies

Laser Physics Centre, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia Received September 14, 1999 We study the interaction of an optical vortex soliton with a dark-soliton stripe in a bulk nonlinear defocusing medium. We develop a multiscale asymptotic theory to predict the main effect of the interaction and then study it experimentally, observing vortex-induced stripe bending, development of the transverse instability, and stripe breakup. 2000 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 190.0190, 190.5530.

Wave instabilities are probably the most remarkable nonlinear phenomena observed in nature. A particular case of these instabilities is modulational (or, in a general case, symmetry-breaking) instability.1 When they are applied to soliton theory, modulational instabilities occur when a low-dimensional solitary wave is subjected to perturbations of higher dimensions; such instabilities are known as the solitons transverse instabilities.1 Recently, different types of soliton transverse instability were observed experimentally for photorefractive, saturable gaseous, and quadratic media.2 4 In particular, Tikhonenko et al.3 reported what is believed to be the first observation of pairs of optical vortex solitons generated by the transverse instability of a darksoliton stripe, as a result of the development of a drift longitudinal instability of a dark soliton that can occur for large saturable nonlinearities.5 In this Letter we study a different type of soliton instability and put forth the following question: What is the result of interaction of dark solitons of different dimensions, i.e., a 1 1 1 -dimensional dark soliton (dark-soliton stripe) and a 2 1 1 -dimensional dark soliton of radial symmetry (vortex soliton)? First, we consider this problem analytically, and then we present the results of an experimental study. In particular, we reveal a new mechanism by which the soliton stripes transverse instability is driven by its interaction with an optical vortex. Such an instability may be associated with the manifestation of the Aharonov Bohm effect, i.e., the splitting of wave fronts at the vortex.6,7 We consider the propagation of a monochromatic scalar electric field E in a bulk optical medium with an intensity-dependent refractive index, n n0 1 n2 I , where n0 is the uniform refractive index of the unperturbed medium and n2 is the Kerr coefficient of a nonlinear optical material (here we consider a defocusing nonlinear medium with n2 , 0). In the paraxial approximation, the Maxwell equations can be
0146-9592/00/020123-03$15.00/0

reduced to the nonlinear Schr dinger equation for the o slowly varying envelope E of the electric field: 22ik0 n0 E 1= Z
2

E 1 2k0 2 n0 n2 jEj2 E

0,

(1)

where k0 is the free-space wave number, n0 is the linear refractive index, and = is a gradient operator def ined in the transverse plane x, y . We assume that for x, y ! ` the modulus of the field envep jEj2 lope E tends to a nonzero value I0 , where I is the beam intensity, and look for solutions in the p I0 u exp ibNL Z , where bNL k0 jn2 jI0 is form E the nonlinearity-induced shift of the beam propagation constant, b b0 1 bNL . The equation for the renormalized field amplitude u (with the boundary condition juj ! 1 for x, y ! `) can be then presented in the dimensionless form i u 1 2 1 = u 1 u 1 2 juj2 z 2 0, (2)

where the renormalized propagation coordinate z and the transverse coordinates x, y are measured in units of k0 jn2 jI0 and n0 jn2 jk0 2 I0 1/2 , respectively. Equation (2) can be rewritten in a real form, substituting u R exp if : R 2 1 = R 2 =f z 2R 1 2 f 1 1 = R2 R =f z 2 2
2

0,

1 1 2 R2 R

0. (3)

We consider a solution of Eqs. (3) in the form of a superposition of a vortex located at the point 21 e, 0
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and a dark-soliton stripe (or kink) with the minimum intensity located along the curve x S y in the asymptotic region e , 1 (see Fig. 1). , If the vortex stripe interaction is disregarded, the field phase can be represented as a sum of the vortex phase and a phase jump Dfk at the stripe: y 21 f s tan 1 Dfk , (4) x 1 e 21 where s 61 is the vortex charge, whereas the amplitude variation of the field at the stripe is described as R jtanh x 2 S j . (5)

To analyze the vortexstripe interaction we employ the asymptotic analytical technique,1 assuming that e , 1. In the leading order in e, the main effect , produced by a vortex on the dark-soliton stripe is associated with the vortex phase gradient, and it can be described analytically by the asymptotic theory, introducing an additional inner spatial scale for the stripe. Therefore, to apply the asymptotic technique we use the following spatial scales and corresponding spatial variables: (i) the outer scales of the vortex ex and y1 ey; and the stripe deformations, x1 (ii) the scale of the unperturbed stripe, x0 x, where we assume that the stripe coordinate s is of the same order; and (iii) the inner scale, x21 e 21 x 2 S . Then, the scale of the characteristic propagation distance corresponding to the stripe deformation is s 0 1 , with transverse displacement of the order of 0 e , i.e., z1 ez. In the vicinity of the stripe x S y , i.e., for x21 0 1 , we look for asymptotic (internal expansion) solutions of the form R eR1 x21 , x1 , y1 , . . . , f f0 x21 , x1 , y1 , . . . , which should be matched with the solutions in the outer asymptotic region [Eqs. (4) and (5)], i.e., with the asymptotic dependences (for x21 ! 6`): R ! ejx21 j , R 2 =f ! 2 sey1 . 1 1 y1 2 (6)

tex phase gradient the initially straight black-soliton stripe becomes gray, and it bends with the transverse velocity ev1 , which depends on the coordinate y1 as a parameter. Thus, each point of the stripe gets shifted, with the transverse velocity f x corresponding to the vortex-induced external field fout s tan21 y1 1 1 x1 . To describe the stripe evolution in a more rigorous way should solve the asymptotic equations for the stripe parameters S and v derived in Eq. (4.15) of Ref. 1, with the conditions of the presence of a vortex in the outer field. Such an analysis is beyond the scope of this Letter. To conf irm the theoretical predictions we perform an experimental study of the vortexstripe interaction, using a cw Ti:sapphire laser and a nonlinear medium composed of atomic-rubidium vapor. The experiments are similar to those reported by Tikhonenko et al.3 and Christou et al.8 for observation of a stripe breakup and vortex steering, respectively. A laser output is a linearly polarized slightly elliptic Gaussian beam with a wavelength tuned close to the rubidium-atom resonance line at 780 nm (with detuning of 0.8 0.9 GHz). A dark-soliton stripe is created by a p-phase jump imposed across the beam center by a mask. Without a vortex, this phase jump evolves into an almost straight stripe describing a 1 1 1 -dimensional dark soliton [see Fig. 2(b)]. A vortex is created by imaging of the waist of the beam onto the other, computer-generated phase mask, thereby introducing a singly charged phase dislocation into the wave front.8 The beam waist and dislocation are then imaged onto the input window of the nonlinear medium, a 20-cm-long cell containing atomic-rubidium vapor (at 101 C). A vortex soliton can be formed at any position in the Gaussian beam, and its experimentally observed image in the absence of a stripe is shown in Fig. 2(a). When both the vortex [Fig. 2(a)] and the stripe [Fig. 2(b)] are created by combined action of two phase masks, they interact in a medium. As a result of this interaction, a stripe bends and the vortex itself shifts slightly, as shown in Fig. 2(c). When we increase the

In the leading order of the asymptotic expansions, Eqs. (3) become 2 f0 R1 x21 x21 0, 2 R x21 2 R1 f0 x21 2 . (7)

Solutions of Eqs. (7) with the boundary conditions (6) can be presented in the following form: R1 v1 y1 1 x21
2 2 1/2

f0

tan

21

x21 v1 y1

, (8)

where v1 y 2sy 1 1 y 2 . In the same order, the stripe position S y can be found from S y1 , z1 z1 v1 y1 . (9)
Fig. 1. Schematic presentation of the vortex stripe asymptotic interaction (see text for details).

The meaning of the leading-order results [Eqs. (8) and (9)] is rather simple: Under the action of the vor-

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Fig. 2. Experimental images of a vortex interacting with a dark-soliton stripe. (a) The output position of the vortex without the stripe after nonlinear propagation and ( b) the stripe background without a vortex are shown. When the vortex is embedded in the stripe background, their interaction leads to (c) an output profile with a bent stripe and slightly downshifted vortex. When the nonlinearity is increased (d), the stripe breaks up into component vortices.

of interaction of bright solitons differs remarkably from that of dark solitons. Finally, we point out a close similarity between the physics of the vortex-induced stripe breakup and the appearance of the phase difference in a dislocated, or split, wave front, a phenomenon that is analogous to the famous Aharonov Bohm effect.6 In the case of a stripe the presence of a vortex induces a phase difference that is proportional to the vortex circulation and leads additionally to the corresponding asymmetric amplitude modulation that initiates the stripe transverse instability, a remarkable nonlinear effect. A significant change in the symmetry of the scattering wave was recently observed experimentally for surface water wave scattering by a vertical vortex.10 In conclusion, we have predicted analytically and also demonstrated experimentally a new nonlinear effect: vortex-induced transverse instability of a darksoliton stripe and the formation of vortices of opposite polarities. This phenomenon can be associated with the manifestation of the Aharonov Bohm effect in optics, and it is in sharp contrast to the corresponding interaction between a bright soliton of circular symmetry and a bright-soliton stripe. This work was partially supported by the Australian Photonics Cooperative Research Centre and the Theeman Foundation. Yu. Kivshar thanks E. DelRe for discussions, and A. Nepomnyashchy acknowledges the hospitality of the Max Planck Institute for Physics of Complex Systems (Dresden, Germany). Y. Kivshars e-mail address is ysk124@rsphysse.anu.edu.au. References
1. Yu. S. Kivshar and D. E. Pelinovsky, Self-focusing and transverse instabilities of solitary waves, Phys. Rep. (to be published). 2. A. V. Mamaev, M. Saffman, and A. A. Zozulya, Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 2262 (1996); Europhys. Lett. 35, 25 (1996). 3. V. Tikhonenko, J. Christou, B. Luther-Davies, and Yu. S. Kivshar, Opt. Lett. 21, 1129 (1996). 4. R. A. Fuerst, D. M. Baboiu, B. Lawrence, W. E. Torruellas, G. I. Stegeman, S. Trillo, and S. Wabnitz, Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 2756 (1997). 5. Yu. S. Kivshar and V. V. Afanasjev, Opt. Lett. 21, 1135 (1996); see also Yu. S. Kivshar and B. Luther-Davies, Phys. Rep. 298, 81 (1998). 6. Y. Aharonov and D. Bohm, Phys. Rev. 115, 485 (1959); M. V. Berry, Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. A 392, 45 (1984). 7. L. Pismen, Vortices in Nonlinear Fields (Clarendon, Oxford, 1999). 8. J. Christou, V. Tikhonenko, Yu. S. Kivshar, and B. Luther-Davies, Opt. Lett. 21, 1649 (1996). 9. E. DelRe, S. Trillo, and M. Segev, Observation of hybrid stripe-needle screening soliton interaction, submitted to Opt. Lett. 10. F. Vivanco, F. Melo, C. Coste, and F. Lund, Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 1966 (1999).

mediums nonlinearity by tuning the frequency closer to the resonant line, the long-wavelength bending initiates transverse instability, and the stripe breaks up into pairs of component vortices, as can be seen in Fig. 2(d). Transverse instability and breakup were observed earlier for an isolated stripe as a result of a drift instability of a dark soliton in a saturable medium5 that developed at much higher powers (240 mW; see Ref. 3). Here, the breakup is observed as being initiated by a vortex and can easily be seen at smaller atom concentrations and much lower powers [e.g., 60 mW for the image shown in Fig. 2(d)]. It is important to compare our results with the corresponding results for the bright case, in which a 2 1 1 -dimensional bright soliton interacts with a 1 1 1 -dimensional bright-soliton stripe in a selffocusing medium. This kind of soliton interaction (called hybrid stripeneedle soliton interaction) was recently studied experimentally for photorefractive screening spatial solitons by DelRe et al.,9 and the effect has been also verif ied numerically for the generalized 2 1 1 -dimensional nonlinear Schr dinger o equation with a local saturable nonlinearity. Since a bright soliton does not carry a phase singularity, its interaction with a stripe occurs on scales of the order of the soliton size. Such a short-wavelength interaction is not able to induce the soliton instability that is known to occur only for long-wavelength transverse modulations. As a result, the stripe bends around the soliton and, after interaction, retains its shape without initiating the transverse instability. Thus the result