COMPETITION AND COEXISTENCE OF 2-DIMENSIONAL OPTICAL-PATTERNS

We report experimental evidence of temporal coexistence and alternatio n of patterns having different scales in a nonlinear optical system fo rmed by a Kerr-like medium with feedback. Time coexistence occurs via spatial segregation of the different patterns in different domains, se parated by topological defects. A simple theoretical model yields pred ictions in good agreement with the experimental results.