Stabilization of higher-order vortex solitons by means of nonlocal nonlinearity

Abstract

We report the experimental observation of the instability suppression of higher-order vortex solitons in cylindrical lead glass with thermal nonlocal nonlinearity. A scalar higher-order vortex soliton with a topological charge $l=10$, which is vulnerable to azimuthal breakup when it is perturbed by an initial noise, is stabilized by a coaxially propagating, mutually incoherent Gaussian beam, forming a Gauss-vortex vector soliton (GVVS). The vortical annular profile and topological charge in the GVVS, and the vortical annular profile in the Gauss-vortex vector breather (GVVB), can be preserved during the propagation. Numerical simulations for unperturbed and perturbed scalar vortex solitons, GVVS, and GVVB demonstrate close agreement with experimental results.