Experimental observation of turbulent coherent structures in a superfluid of light

TL;DR

This paper experimentally investigates turbulent coherent structures in a superfluid of light, revealing various hydrodynamic regimes and vortex properties, advancing understanding of photon superfluid turbulence and quantum transport simulation.

Contribution

It provides the first experimental phase diagram of turbulent regimes in superfluid light and analyzes vortex characteristics related to the healing length.

Findings

Identification of distinct hydrodynamic regimes in superfluid light

Vortex core radius depends on the healing length

Experimental phase diagram of turbulence regimes

Abstract

We experimentally explore the rich variety of nonlinear coherent structures arising in a turbulent flow of superfluid light past an obstacle in an all-optical configuration. The different hydrodynamic regimes observed are organised in a unique phase diagram involving the velocity of the flow and the diameter of the obstacle. Then, we focus on the vortices nucleated in the wake of the obstacle by investigating their intensity profile and the dependence of the radius of their core on the healing length. Our results pave the way for further investigations on turbulence in photon superfluids and provide versatile experimental tools for simulating quantum transport with nonlinear light.