Complex soliton-like pattern generation in Potassium Niobate due to noisy, high intensity, input beams

We report the generation of complex soliton-like patterns in noncritically-phase-matched potassium niobate which occur in random spatial patterns from shot-to-shot. Up to five spots have been generated at input intensities of 10's GW/cm2, many times the single soliton threshold. The mechanism which leads to the symmetry breaking required for the complex patterns is interpreted to be random noise imprinted on the input light.