Experimental demonstration of (1+1)D self-confinement and breathing soliton-like propagation in photorefractive crystals with strong optical activity

Abstract

We report the first experimental observation of (1 + 1)D self-confinement of laser beams in BSO crystals, which are photorefractive materials with strong optical activity (45 mm(-1)). The BSO crystal was biased along the [001] crystallographic direction while the light beam propagated along [(1) under bar 10]. Breathing of such beams has been monitore