Experimental observation of turbulent coherent structures in a superfluid of light

Matthieu Bellec

Fluids of light merge many-body physics and nonlinear optics, revealing quantum hydrodynamic features of light when it propagates in nonlinear media. One of the most outstanding evidence of light behaving as an interacting fluid is its ability to carry itself as a superfluid. Using an all-optical experimental platform, based on a biased photorefractive crystal, we have recently reported a direct experimental detection of the transition to superfluidity in the flow of a fluid of light past an (weakly perturbing) obstacle. Here, considering a stronger and larger obstacle, we investigate the dynamics of the resulting turbulent flow of light. We observe, as the Mach number increases, the generation, evolution and merging of pairs of vortices of opposite circulation, eventually leading to the generation of a dark solitons through an instability process.

Related paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2012.13280