Abstract

An optical vortex is essentially a lightwave that has a spiral phase profile similar to the rotation of water at a whirlpool. Seen from head on, a beam with an optical vortex appears as a bright doughnut of light. Similar to hurricanes or tornados, optical vortices eventually dissipate as they propagate in linear media.¹ In self-defocusing Kerr media, the opposing effects of nonlinear refraction and diffraction result in stationary filaments inside the light beam. Moreover, these stationary filaments, or vortices, are stable with constant radii and are highly resistant to change. They are called optical vortex solitons (OVS). The OVS is the only known cylindrical soliton in Kerr media.²

© 1996 Optical Society of America