Features of modulational instability of partially coherent light: Importance of the incoherence spectrum

It is shown that the properties of the modulational instability of partially coherent waves propagating in a nonlinear Kerr medium depend crucially on the profile of the incoherent field spectrum. Under certain conditions, the incoherence may even enhance, rather than suppress, the instability. In particular, it is found that the range of modulationally unstable wave numbers does not necessarily decrease monotonically with increasing degree of incoherence and that the modulational instability may still exist even when long wavelength perturbations are stable.