We study domain growth in a nonlinear optical system useful to
explore different scenarios that might occur in systems which do
not relax to thermodynamic equilibrium. Domains correspond to
equivalent states of different circular polarization of light. We
describe three dynamical regimes: a coarsening regime in which
dynamical scaling holds with a growth law dictated by curvature
effects, a regime in which localized structures form, and a
regime in which polarization domain walls are modulationally
unstable and the system freezes in a labyrinthine pattern.
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