Experimental observation of front propagation in a negatively diffractive inhomogeneous Kerr cavity

Abstract

A focusing Kerr Fabry-P´erot cavity operating in a negative diffraction regime exhibits transverse propagating fronts connecting two different nematic liquid crystal molecule average orientations. Under an inhomogeneous spatial pumping beam, these fronts stop to propagate and lead to the formation of a stable localized structure. The trajectory of the front position is derived from the mean-field model. Its hyperbolic tangent analytical expression perfectly fits the experimental data.