2D-Interaction of photorefractive solitons in a SBN crystal

In this work we present the results of experimental and theoretical investigation of coherent optical solitons interaction in a SBN crystal with a two-dimensional intensity distribution at the input face. The diameter of input beams (FWHM) was 30 mm. First we investigated the interaction of two solitons with equal intensities depending on the distance between the centers of solitons. The minimal distance for soliton interaction along the optical axis was about 2.6 FWHM. The minimal interaction distance perpendicularly to the optical axis was about 3.2 FWHM. Also we investigated the interaction of four solitons with equal intensities placed in the corners of a rectangle with edge lengths of 2.5 FWHM and 5 FWHM. The experiment and the theoretical calculation showed that the distance between the centers of beams of this arrays should be less than 3.2 FWHM to observe the independent solitons.