Observation of photon droplets and their dynamics

Abstract

We present experimental evidence of photon droplets in an attractive (focusing) nonlocal nonlinear medium. Photon droplets are self-bound, finite-sized states of light that are robust to size and shape perturbations due to a balance of competing attractive and repulsive forces. It has recently been shown theoretically, via a multipole expansion of the nonlocal nonlinearity, that the self-bound state arises due to competition between the s-wave and d-wave nonlinear terms, together with diffraction. The theoretical photon droplet framework encompasses both a soliton-like stationary ground state and the non-soliton-like dynamics that ensue when the system is displaced from equilibrium, i.e. driven into an excited state. We present numerics and experiments supporting the existence of these photon droplet states and measurements of the dynamical evolution of the photon droplet orbital angular momentum.

arXiv comment6 pages (inc. supplemental), 7 figures

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• Stable high-dimensional weak-light soliton molecules and their active control
• Short Bragg pulse spectroscopy for a paraxial fluids of light
• Infinite dipolar droplet -- a simple theory for the macro-droplet regime
• Stability and dynamics of nonlinear excitations in a two-dimensional droplet-bearing environment
• Quantum droplet in a mixture of Bose-Fermi superfluids
• Coherent Impurity Transport in an Attractive Binary Bose-Einstein condensate
• Static and dynamic properties of self-bound droplets of light in hot vapours