Spontaneous knotting of self-trapped waves

Anton S. Desyatnikov; Daniel Buccoliero; Mark R. Dennis; Yuri S. Kivshar

doi:10.1038/srep00771

Spontaneous knotting of self-trapped waves

Anton S. Desyatnikov
, Daniel Buccoliero
, Mark R. Dennis
, Yuri S. Kivshar

Australian National University
University of Bristol

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

26 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We describe theory and simulations of a spinning optical soliton whose propagation spontaneously excites knotted and linked optical vortices. The nonlinear phase of the self-trapped light beam breaks the wave front into a sequence of optical vortex loops around the soliton, which, through the soliton's orbital angular momentum and spatial twist, tangle on propagation to form links and knots. We anticipate similar spontaneous knot topology to be a universal feature of waves whose phase front is twisted and nonlinearly modulated, including superfluids and trapped matter waves.

Original language	English
Article number	771
Journal	Scientific Reports
Volume	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/srep00771
Publication status	Published - 2012
Externally published	Yes

Funding

This work is supported by the Australian Research Council and the National Science Foundation under Grant No. NSF PHY11-25915. ASD is an Australian Research Fellow and MRD is a Royal Society University Research Fellow. The authors are grateful to R. King for the help with figure 2. ASD and MRD thank for hospitality the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at University of California in Santa Barbara where this work was completed.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General

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10.1038/srep00771

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title = "Spontaneous knotting of self-trapped waves",

abstract = "We describe theory and simulations of a spinning optical soliton whose propagation spontaneously excites knotted and linked optical vortices. The nonlinear phase of the self-trapped light beam breaks the wave front into a sequence of optical vortex loops around the soliton, which, through the soliton's orbital angular momentum and spatial twist, tangle on propagation to form links and knots. We anticipate similar spontaneous knot topology to be a universal feature of waves whose phase front is twisted and nonlinearly modulated, including superfluids and trapped matter waves.",

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note = "Funding Information: This work is supported by the Australian Research Council and the National Science Foundation under Grant No. NSF PHY11-25915. ASD is an Australian Research Fellow and MRD is a Royal Society University Research Fellow. The authors are grateful to R. King for the help with figure 2. ASD and MRD thank for hospitality the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at University of California in Santa Barbara where this work was completed.",

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AU - Desyatnikov, Anton S.

AU - Buccoliero, Daniel

AU - Dennis, Mark R.

AU - Kivshar, Yuri S.

N1 - Funding Information: This work is supported by the Australian Research Council and the National Science Foundation under Grant No. NSF PHY11-25915. ASD is an Australian Research Fellow and MRD is a Royal Society University Research Fellow. The authors are grateful to R. King for the help with figure 2. ASD and MRD thank for hospitality the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at University of California in Santa Barbara where this work was completed.

PY - 2012

Y1 - 2012

N2 - We describe theory and simulations of a spinning optical soliton whose propagation spontaneously excites knotted and linked optical vortices. The nonlinear phase of the self-trapped light beam breaks the wave front into a sequence of optical vortex loops around the soliton, which, through the soliton's orbital angular momentum and spatial twist, tangle on propagation to form links and knots. We anticipate similar spontaneous knot topology to be a universal feature of waves whose phase front is twisted and nonlinearly modulated, including superfluids and trapped matter waves.

AB - We describe theory and simulations of a spinning optical soliton whose propagation spontaneously excites knotted and linked optical vortices. The nonlinear phase of the self-trapped light beam breaks the wave front into a sequence of optical vortex loops around the soliton, which, through the soliton's orbital angular momentum and spatial twist, tangle on propagation to form links and knots. We anticipate similar spontaneous knot topology to be a universal feature of waves whose phase front is twisted and nonlinearly modulated, including superfluids and trapped matter waves.

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Spontaneous knotting of self-trapped waves

Abstract

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