arXiv · 1703.09019
Dispersive dam-break flow of a photon fluid
Abstract
We investigate the temporal photonic analogue of the dam-break phenomenon for shallow water by exploiting a fiber optics setup. We clearly observe the decay of the step-like input (photonic dam) into a pair of oppositely propagating rarefaction wave and dispersive shock wave. Our results show evidence for a critical transition of the dispersive shock into a self-cavitating state. The detailed observation of the cavitating state dynamics allows for a fully quantitative test of the Whitham modulation theory applied to the universal defocusing nonlinear Schroedinger equation.
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Gang Xu, Matteo Conforti, Alexandre Kudlinski, Arnaud Mussot, Stefano Trillo. 2017-03-28. Dispersive dam-break flow of a photon fluid. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.118.254101
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