Motzek, KristianShih, Ming-FengSwartzlander Jr, Grover A.Kivshar, Yuri2016-05-232016-05-230740-3224http://hdl.handle.net/1885/101501We study spatially localized optical vortices created by self-trapping of partially incoherent light with a phase dislocation in a biased photorefractive crystal. In a contrast to the decay of coherent self-trapped vortex beams due to the azimuthal instability, the incoherent vortices are stabilized when the spatial incoherence of light exceeds a certain threshold. We analyze the spatial coherence properties of the incoherent optical vortices and reveal the existence of ring-like singularities in the spatial coherence function of a vortex field that can characterize the stable propagation of vortices through nonlinear media.This work was supported by the Australian Research Council and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. G. Swartzlander was supported by the U.S. Army Research Office.© 2005 Optical Society of AmericaKeywords: Computer simulation; Crystals; Light propagation; Mathematical models; Nonlinear equations; Photorefractive materials; Solitons; Optical vortices; Photorefractive crystal; Spatial coherence; Coherent light2004-10-2410.1364/JOSAB.22.0014372016-06-14