Characterization, dynamics and stabilization of diffractive domain walls and dark ring cavity solitons in parametric oscillators.

Mean field models of spatially extended degenerate optical parametric oscillators possess one-dimensional stable domain wall solutions in the presence of diffraction. We characterize these structures as spiral heteroclinic connections and study the spatial frequency of the local oscillations of the signal intensity which distinguish them from diffusion kinks. Close to threshold, at resonance or with positive detunings, the dynamics of two-dimensional diffractive domain walls is ruled by curvature effects with a t(1/2) growth law, and coalescence of domains is observed. In this regime, we show how to stabilize regular and irregular distributions of two-dimensional domain walls by injection of a helical wave at the pump frequency. Further above threshold the shrinking of domains of one phase embedded in the other is stopped by the interaction of the oscillatory tails of the domain walls, leading to cavity solitons surrounded by a characteristic dark ring. We investigate the nature and stability of these localized states, provide evidence of their solitonic character, show that they correspond to spiral homoclinic orbits and find that their threshold of appearance lowers with increasing pump cavity finesse.