We show that modulation instability can exist with partially spatially incoherent light beams in a noninstantaneous nonlinear environment. For such incoherent modulation instability to occur, the value of the nonlinearity has to exceed a threshold imposed by the degree of spatial coherence.

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We present a modal theory of self-trapping spatially incoherent light beams in any general nonlinear media. We find that a self-trapped incoherent beam induces a multimode waveguide which guides the beam itself by multiply populating the guided modes. The self-trapping process alters the statistics of the incoherent beam, rendering it localized. We find the conditions for self-trapping ("existence region" in parameter space) and the correlation function of the incoherent self-trapped beam.[S0031-9007(97)04860-6] PACS numbers: 42.65.Jx, 42.65.Tg

We provide a comprehensive experimental and theoretical study of incoherently coupled photorefractive spatial-soliton pairs in all three possible realizations: bright-bright, dark-dark, and dark-bright. We also show that when the total intensity of two coupled solitons is much lower than the effective dark irradiance, the coupled soliton pair is reduced to Manakov solitons. In all cases, mutual trapping of both components in the coupled soliton pair is verified by analyzing, experimentally and numerically, the beam evolution after decoupling.

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We report what is to our knowledge the first observation of incoherently coupled photorefractive spatial soliton pairs.

We report the observation of incoherently coupled dark-bright spatial soliton pairs in a biased bulk photorefractive crystal. When such a pair is decoupled, the dark component evolves into a triplet structure, whereas the bright one decays into a self-defocusing beam.

Using the coherent density approach, we study the propagation dynamics of incoherent bright and dark beams in biased photorefractive crystals. We show that, under appropriate initial conditions, bright as well as darklike incoherent quasi-solitons can be established in this material system. Our numerical simulations demonstrate that the coherence properties of these beams can be significantly affected by the self-trapping process.