Interaction and control of optical localized structures

We show the possibility of controlling the formation, the interaction and erasure of localised structures in a passive non-linear resonator. The localised structures, which have the character of stable 2D spatial solitons, are highly degenerate solutions which develop in the presence of modulational instabilities and their position in the transverse profile of the field can be decided by suitably tailoring the driving external field. The results indicate the possibility of realizing optical memories based on localised structures arrays.