Transverse instability and dynamics of nonlocal bright solitons

Abstract

We study the transverse instability and dynamics of bright soliton stripes in two-dimensional nonlocal nonlinear media. Using a multiscale perturbation method, we derive analytically the first-order correction to the soliton shape, which features an exponential growth in time -- a signature of the transverse instability. The soliton's characteristic timescale associated with its exponential growth,is found to depend on the square root of the nonlocality parameter. This, in turn, highlights the nonlocality-induced suppression of the transverse instability. Our analytical predictions are corroborated by direct numerical simulations, with the analytical results being in good agreement with the numerical ones.