Experimental observation of speckle instability in Kerr random media

U. Bortolozzo, S. Residori, P. Sebbah

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18 Scopus citations

Abstract

In a disordered nonlinear medium the transmitted speckle pattern was predicted to become unstable as a result of the positive feedback between intensity fluctuations and local variations of the refractive index. We show experimental evidence of speckle instability for light transversally scattered in a liquid crystal cell, where a two-dimensional controlled disorder is imprinted by suitable illumination of a photoconductive wall and nonlinearity is obtained through optical reorientation of the liquid crystal molecules. The speckle pattern spontaneously oscillates at discrete frequencies above a critical threshold, whose dependence on the scattering mean free path confirms the crucial role of disorder in the feedback process.

Original languageEnglish
Article number103903
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume106
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - 11 Mar 2011
Externally publishedYes

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