An optical analogue for a rotating binary Bose-Einstein condensate

The coupled nonlinear Schroedinger equations for paraxial optics with two circular light polarizations, in a defocusing Kerr medium with anomalous dispersion, coincide in form with the Gross-Pitaevskii equations for a binary Bose-Einstein condensate of cold atoms in the phase separation regime. A helical symmetry of optical waveguide corresponds to rotation of transverse potential confining the condensate. The ``centrifugal force'' makes essential effect on propagation of light wave in such system. Numerical simulations for a waveguide of elliptical cross-section revealed previously unknown in optics, specific structures consisting of quantized vortices and domain walls between two polarizations.