If anyone is interested in a more tractable experimental platform for the study of this effect - it has also been observed for light propagating in an optical f

If anyone is interested in a more tractable experimental platform for the study of this effect - it has also been observed for light propagating in an optical fiber. There is an interesting analogy between the nonlinear wave propagation effects believed to be responsible for ocean rogue waves and those responsible for optical effects like supercontinuum generation. Here's a recent nature paper where researchers observed "optical rogue waves" in the light propagating through a microstructured optical fiber. http://www.ee.ucla.edu/~oecs/comp_pub/intr_opt/Optics154.pdf http://www.ee.ucla.edu/~oecs/comp_pub/intr_opt/Optics154.pdf This follows the pattern of solitons - they were first observed in a boat canal, and later found in optics.