The breakup of high-order spatial solitons propagating in an AlGaAs slabwaveguide is studied. We experimentally observe the breakup of such beams intomultiple fragments and identify the mechanism of this breakup as the combinedeffect of two- and three-photon-absorption. We show that the multiple breakuppersists even when the value of two-photon-absorption is reduced by an order ofmagnitude owing to the high value of three-photon-absorption of AlGaAs at thehalf band-gap. The experimental results extend known mechanism of solitonbreakup induced by two-photon-absorption and agree well with numerical beampropagation simulations.
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