Spatial soliton-induced guiding by cross-phase modulation

The authors show that spatial solitons are able to induce the stable guiding of a weak probe beam in a homogeneous Kerr-type nonlinear media through cross-phase modulation (XPM). The modes of the induced waveguide are derived from the propagation equation of the probe. Experiments have been performed in Kerr liquid CS₂, with beams of picosecond duration at infrared and visible wavelengths. Stable guiding of a green probe induced by an IR soliton beam has been demonstrated in several different experimental situations. Induced antiguiding and beam splitting are also reported for pump and probe of perpendicular polarizations. All results are in excellent agreement with numerical simulations of the propagation