Stable periodic arrays of bright Kerr-like spatial solitons in a planar waveguide

Summary form only given. A lot of theoretical and experimental work has been done this last decade an single spatial soliton propagation and twin-soliton interactions in planar Kerr waveguides, as it is well known that Kerr solitons can only be stable in a (1+1)D geometry. The (1+1)D nonlinear Schrodinger equation that governs soliton propagation also governs modulational instability, a parametric wave mixing process which amplifies, spatially speaking, weak transverse perturbations or periodic modulations of an intense homogeneous plane wave in a nonlinear diffractive medium. Such exponential growth of spatial frequency sidebands may lead to the generation of periodic arrays of soliton beams. We present an experimental demonstration of the generation and stable propagation of extended periodic arrays of bright spatial solitons in a planar waveguide.