Vectorial dispersive shock waves in optical fibers

Dispersive shock waves are a universal phenomenon encountered in many fields of science, ranging from fluid dynamics, Bose-Einstein condensates and geophysics. It has been established that light behaves as a perfect fluid when propagating in an optical medium exhibiting a weakly self-defocusing nonlinearity. Consequently, this analogy has become attractive for the exploration of dispersive shock wave phenomena. Here, we observe of a novel class of vectorial dispersive shock waves in nonlinear fiber optics. Analogous to blast-waves, identified in inviscid perfect fluids, vectorial dispersive shock waves are triggered by a nonuniform double piston imprinted on a continuous-wave probe via nonlinear cross-phase modulation, produced by an orthogonally-polarized pump pulse. The nonlinear phase potential imparted on the probe results in the formation of an expanding zone of zero intensity surrounded by two repulsive oscillating fronts, which move away from each other with opposite velocities.