An Optical Analog for a Rotating Binary Bose—Einstein Condensate

Coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations for paraxial optics with two circular polarizations of light in a defocusing Kerr medium with anomalous dispersion coincide in form with the Gross–Pitaevskii equations for a binary Bose—Einstein condensate (BEC) of cold atoms in the phase separation regime. In this case, the helical symmetry of an optical waveguide corresponds to rotation of the transverse potential confining the BEC. The “centrifugal force” considerably affects the propagation of a light wave in such a system. Numerical experiments for a waveguide with an elliptical cross section have revealed characteristic structures consisting of quantized vortices and domain walls between two polarizations, which have not been observed earlier in optics.