Nonlinear dynamics of Airy-Vortex 3D wave packets: Emission of vortex light waves

TL;DR

This paper investigates the nonlinear dynamics of 3D Airy-vortex wave packets in Kerr media, demonstrating vortex wave emission, angular momentum conservation, and factors influencing collapse resistance.

Contribution

It reveals how Airy-vortex wave packets emit vortex light waves under nonlinear conditions and how their structure affects collapse resistance and stability.

Findings

Emissions of vortex waves with conserved topological charge.

Airy-vortex beams resist collapse better with smaller width and angular momentum.

Critical amplitude for collapse depends on beam width and topological charge.

Abstract

The dynamics of 3D Airy-vortex wave packets is studied under the action of strong self-focusing Kerr nonlinearity. Emissions of nonlinear 3D waves out of the main wave packets with the topological charges were demonstrated. Due to the conservation of the total angular momentum, charges of the emitted waves are equal to those carried by the parental light structure. The rapid collapse imposes a severe limitation on the propagation of multidimensional waves in Kerr media. However, the structure of the Airy beam carrier allows the coupling of light from the leading, most intense peak into neighboring peaks and consequently strongly postpones the collapse. The dependence of the critical input amplitude for the appearance of a fast collapse on the beam width is studied for wave packets with zero and non-zero topological charges. Wave packets carrying angular momentum are found to be much more resistant to the rapid collapse, especially those having small width.