Abstract

We demonstrate experimentally optical guidance of coherent light beams, using incoherent light. Such guidance is made possible by generation of partially spatially incoherent self-trapped dark beams (dark incoherent solitons) in a noninstantaneous nonlinear medium. In the one-dimensional case, the incoherent solitons induce single and Y-junction planar waveguides, whereas in the two-dimensional case, they form circular waveguides. These experiments introduce the possibility of controlling high-power laser beams with low-power incoherent light sources such as LED’s or lightbulbs.

© 1999 Optical Society of America

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