Observation of a discrete family of dissipative solitons in a nonlinear optical system

Phys Rev Lett. 2005 Sep 30;95(14):143906. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.143906. Epub 2005 Sep 30.

Abstract

We report on the observation of a discrete family of spatial dissipative solitons in a simple optical pattern forming system, which is based on a modified single-mirror feedback arrangement. After a pitchfork bifurcation the system possesses two (nearly) equivalent coexisting states of different polarizations. The spatial solitons correspond to excursions from one of the two states serving as a background state towards the other one. The members of the soliton family differ in the number of high-amplitude radial oscillations. The observations are in good agreement with numerical simulations and general expectations for dissipative solitons.