F. Pedaci, G. Tissoni*, S. Barland, M. Giudici, and Jorge Tredicce

INLN, Institut Non Lineaire de Nice, UMR6618 Univ.de Nice CNRS, 1365 Route des Lucioles, 06560 Valbonne, France

* Università dell’ Insubria, Como, Italy

Mapping local defects of extended media using Cavity Solitons

We propose here a method to disclose and visualize local defects of an spatially extended system using properties of cavity solitons (CS) or localized structures. The stable positions of CS depend on spatial gradients in the parameters and on local defects of the hosting medium. By accurate control of parameter gradients in an optically injected VCSEL, we are able to put in evidence the defects in the structure of the device. The system acts as a force microscope with low resolution but extremely high sensitivity.