Pressure, Surface Tension, and Dripping of Self-Trapped Laser Beams

Journal Article · Fri Jul 10 00:00:00 EDT 2009 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.103.023903· OSTI ID:21347038

Novoa, David; Michinel, Humberto; Tommasini, Daniele ^[1]

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1. Departamento de Fisica Aplicada, Facultade de Ciencias de Ourense, Universidade de Vigo, As Lagoas s/n, Ourense, ES-32004 (Spain)

We show that a laser beam which propagates through an optical medium with Kerr (focusing) and higher order (defocusing) nonlinearities displays pressure and surface-tension properties yielding capillarity and dripping effects totally analogous to usual liquid droplets. The system is reinterpreted in terms of a thermodynamic grand potential, allowing for the computation of the pressure and surface tension beyond the usual hydrodynamical approach based on Madelung transformation and the analogy with the Euler equation. We then show both analytically and numerically that the stationary soliton states of such a light system satisfy the Young-Laplace equation and that the dynamical evolution through a capillary is described by the same law that governs the growth of droplets in an ordinary liquid system.

• OSTI ID: 21347038
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 103, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.023903; (c) 2009 The American Physical Society; ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
CALCULATION METHODS
DROPLETS
FOCUSING
LAPLACE EQUATION
LASERS
LIQUIDS
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
SOLITONS
SURFACE TENSION
TRANSFORMATIONS
TRAPPING
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
EQUATIONS
FLUIDS
PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
PARTICLES
QUASI PARTICLES
SURFACE PROPERTIES