Dipole azimuthons and vortex charge flipping in nematic liquid crystals
Date
2011-10-24
Authors
Izdebskaya, Yana V
Desyatnikov, Anton S
Assanto, Gaetano
Kivshar, Yuri
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Optical Society of America
Abstract
We demonstrate self-trapped laser beams carrying phase singularities in nematic liquid crystals. We experimentally observe the astigmatic transformation of vortex beams into spiraling dipole azimuthons accompanied by power-dependent charge-flipping of the on-axis phase singularity. The latter topological reactions involve triplets of vortex lines and resemble pitchfork bifurcations.
Description
Keywords
Spatial solitons, Optical vortices, Liquid crystals
Citation
Collections
Source
Optics express
Type
Journal article
Book Title
Entity type
Access Statement
Open Access