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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. E » Volume 65 » Issue 6
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Phys. Rev. E 65, 066604 (2002) [7 pages]

Liquid light condensates

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H. Michinel1, J. Campo-Táboas1, R. García-Fernández1, J. R. Salgueiro2, and M. L. Quiroga-Teixeiro3
1Area de Optica, Facultade de Ciencias de Ourense, Universidade de Vigo, Campus de As Lagoas s/n, Ourense, ES-32005, Spain
2Escola Universitaria de Optica e Optometría, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Campus Sur s/n, Santiago, ES-15706, Spain
3Institute for Microelectronics, Department of Optoelectronics, Chalmers University of Technology, Goteborg, S-41296 Sweden

Received 3 September 2001; published 11 June 2002

We show that a laser beam which propagates through a cubic-quintic nonlinear optical material may reach, for a given power, a condensed state with a collisional dynamics resembling a liquid drop. We qualitatively describe the analogies between this system and the usual fluids and show them by simulating numerically total reflections of these beams with planar boundaries and localized defects. We use the analogy “liquid light” to stress the connections with the dynamics of quantum fluids, including Bose-Einstein condensates.

© 2002 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevE.65.066604
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevE.65.066604
PACS:
42.65.-k
 
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