Self-organized vortex and antivortex patterns in laser arrays

Abstract

Recently it is shown that dissipatively coupled laser arrays simulate the classical XY model. We show that phase-locking of laser arrays can give rise to the spontaneous formation of vortex and antivortex phase patterns that are analogous to topological defects of the XY model. These patterns are stable although their formation is less likely in comparison to the ground state lasing mode. In addition, we show that small ratios of photon-to-gain lifetime destabilizes vortex and antivortex phase patterns. These findings are important for studying topological effects in optics as well as for designing laser array devices.

References in corpus (7)

• The World of the Complex Ginzburg-Landau Equation
• Realizing the $XY$ Hamiltonian in polariton simulators
• Dissipative Topological Defects in Coupled Laser Networks
• Realizing spin-Hamiltonians in nanoscale active photonic lattices
• Vortices and the entrainment transition in the 2D Kuramoto model
• Mapping the XY Hamiltonian onto a Network of Coupled Lasers
• Dynamics of dissipative topological defects in coupled phase oscillators