Abstract

The prediction is experimentally confirmed that bright spatial solitons can be formed in spontaneously self- defocusing azo-doped polymers through a photoisomerization process, namely, angular hole burning. The experiments are actually the realization of a scheme of light-controlling light. Both linearly polarized and circularly polarized light can propagate as solitons in such media. The solitons with the same intensity but with different polarizations have different widths. The experimental results are further theoretically explained.

© 2010 Optical Society of America

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