Complex light: Dynamic phase transitions of a light beam in a nonlinear non-local disordered medium

The dynamics of several light filaments (spatial optical solitons) propagating in an optically nonlinear and non-local random medium is investigated using the paradigms of the physics of complexity. Cluster formation is interpreted as a dynamic phase transition. A connection with the random matrices approach for explaining the vibrational spectra of an ensemble of solitons is pointed out. General arguments based on a Brownian dynamics model are validated by the numerical simulation of a stochastic partial differential equation system. The results are also relevant for Bose condensed gases and plasma physics.