Experimental observation of modulation instability and optical spatial soliton arrays in soft condensed matter

P. J. Reece, E. M. Wright, K. Dholakia

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

111 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this Letter we report observations of optically induced self-organization of colloidal arrays in the presence of unpatterned counterpropagating evanescent waves. The colloidal arrays formed along the laser propagation axis are shown to be linked to the breakup of the incident field into optical spatial solitons, the lateral spacing of the arrays being related to modulation instability of the soft condensed matter system.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number203902
JournalPhysical review letters
Volume98
Issue number20
DOIs
StatePublished - May 18 2007

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Physics and Astronomy

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Experimental observation of modulation instability and optical spatial soliton arrays in soft condensed matter'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this