Crescent Waves in Optical Cavities
  We theoretically and experimentally generate stationary crescent surface solitons pinged to the boundary of a micro-structured vertical cavity surface emission laser by using the intrinsic cavity mode as a background potential. Instead of a direct transition from linear to nonlinear cavity modes, we demonstrate the existence of a symmetry-breaking crescent waves without any analogs in the linear limit. Our results provide an alternative and general method to control lasing characteristics as well as to study optical surface waves. 
Chandroth P. Jisha, YuanYao Lin, Tsin-Dong Lee, and Ray-Kuang Lee
physics.optics nlin.PS