Optical Rogue Waves in Vortex Turbulence

Christopher J. Gibson, Alison M. Yao, and Gian-Luca Oppo
Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 043903 – Published 27 January 2016
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Abstract

We present a spatiotemporal mechanism for producing 2D optical rogue waves in the presence of a turbulent state with creation, interaction, and annihilation of optical vortices. Spatially periodic structures with bound phase lose stability to phase unbound turbulent states in complex Ginzburg-Landau and Swift-Hohenberg models with external driving. When the pumping is high and the external driving is low, synchronized oscillations are unstable and lead to spatiotemporal vortex-mediated turbulence with high excursions in amplitude. Nonlinear amplification leads to rogue waves close to turbulent optical vortices, where the amplitude tends to zero, and to probability density functions (PDFs) with long tails typical of extreme optical events.

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  • Received 9 September 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.043903

© 2016 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

  1. Research Areas
Atomic, Molecular & Optical

Authors & Affiliations

Christopher J. Gibson, Alison M. Yao, and Gian-Luca Oppo*

  • SUPA and Department of Physics, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G4 0NG, Scotland, United Kingdom

  • *Corresponding author. g.l.oppo@strath.ac.uk

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Issue

Vol. 116, Iss. 4 — 29 January 2016

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