Formation of multiple dark photovoltaic spatial solitons.

We theoretically study the formation of multiple dark photovoltaic soliton splitting in the quasi-steady-state and steady-state regimes under open-circuit conditions. We find that the initial width of the dark notch at the entrance face of the crystal is a key parameter for generating an even (or odd) number sequence of dark coherent photovoltaic solitons. If the initial width of the dark notch is small, only a fundamental soliton or Y-junction soliton pair is generated. As the initial width of the dark notch is increased, the dark notch tends to split into an odd (or even) number of multiple dark photovoltaic solitons, which realizes a progressive transition from a low-order soliton to a sequence of higher-order solitons. The soliton pairs far away from the centre have bigger width and less visibility. In addition, when the distance from the centre of the dark notch increases, the separations between adjacent dark stripes become slightly smaller. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]