Abstract

Hexagons represent an important class of patterns in spatially-extended nonlinear optical systems. Most likely they arise subcritically in systems with broken phase invariance and are described by canonical amplitude equations [1 (a)], though different types of hexagons, including supercritical hexagons in phase-invariant systems with a complex cubic nonlinearity or Price’s hexagons, have been found in certain cases [1(b)].

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