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Soliton enhancement of spontaneous symmetry breaking

Soliton enhancement of spontaneous symmetry breaking
Soliton enhancement of spontaneous symmetry breaking
Spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) occurs when noise triggers an initially symmetric system to evolve toward one of its nonsymmetric states. Topological and optical SSB involve material reconfiguration/transition and light propagation/distribution in time or space, respectively. In anisotropic optical media, light beam propagation and distribution of the optic axis can be linked, thereby connecting topological and optical SSB. Using nonlinear soft matter, namely uniaxial liquid crystals, we report on simultaneous topological and optical SSB, showing that spatial solitons enhance the noise-driven transition of the medium from a symmetric to an asymmetric configuration, while acquiring a power-dependent transverse velocity in either of two specular directions with respect to the initial wavevector. Solitons enhance SSB by further distorting the optic axis distribution through nonlinear reorientation, resulting in power-tunable walk-off as well as hysteresis in beam refraction versus angle of incidence.
783-789
Alberucci, Alessandro
6724255e-f380-4a32-af24-911323cb7e98
Piccardi, Armando
745f16e1-faaa-4405-b99d-a1ecbfd9e582
Kravets, Nina
d8a09747-9b2f-4935-92de-2f669609e5dd
Buchnev, Oleksandr
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Assanto, Gaetano
c89823fa-c863-4ff3-aea0-915fa5852df2
Alberucci, Alessandro
6724255e-f380-4a32-af24-911323cb7e98
Piccardi, Armando
745f16e1-faaa-4405-b99d-a1ecbfd9e582
Kravets, Nina
d8a09747-9b2f-4935-92de-2f669609e5dd
Buchnev, Oleksandr
60cdb0d2-3388-47be-a066-61b3b396f69d
Assanto, Gaetano
c89823fa-c863-4ff3-aea0-915fa5852df2

Alberucci, Alessandro, Piccardi, Armando, Kravets, Nina, Buchnev, Oleksandr and Assanto, Gaetano (2015) Soliton enhancement of spontaneous symmetry breaking. Optica, 2 (9), 783-789, [243880]. (doi:10.1364/OPTICA.2.000783).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) occurs when noise triggers an initially symmetric system to evolve toward one of its nonsymmetric states. Topological and optical SSB involve material reconfiguration/transition and light propagation/distribution in time or space, respectively. In anisotropic optical media, light beam propagation and distribution of the optic axis can be linked, thereby connecting topological and optical SSB. Using nonlinear soft matter, namely uniaxial liquid crystals, we report on simultaneous topological and optical SSB, showing that spatial solitons enhance the noise-driven transition of the medium from a symmetric to an asymmetric configuration, while acquiring a power-dependent transverse velocity in either of two specular directions with respect to the initial wavevector. Solitons enhance SSB by further distorting the optic axis distribution through nonlinear reorientation, resulting in power-tunable walk-off as well as hysteresis in beam refraction versus angle of incidence.

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Accepted/In Press date: 11 August 2015
e-pub ahead of print date: 31 August 2015
Published date: 20 September 2015
Organisations: Optoelectronics Research Centre

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 383013
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/383013
PURE UUID: 327429d2-45d2-42cd-b517-e9e7da4f4172

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Date deposited: 16 Oct 2015 15:33
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 21:36

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Contributors

Author: Alessandro Alberucci
Author: Armando Piccardi
Author: Nina Kravets
Author: Oleksandr Buchnev
Author: Gaetano Assanto

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