Convection-induced nonlinear symmetry breaking in wave mixing

We show that the combined action of diffraction and convection (walk-off) in wave mixing processes leads to a nonlinear symmetry breaking in the generated traveling waves. The dynamics near to threshold is reduced to a Ginzburg-Landau model, showing an original dependence of the nonlinear self-coupling term on the convection. Analytical expressions of the intensity and velocity of traveling waves emphasize the utmost importance of convection in this phenomenon. These predictions are in excellent agreement with the numerical solutions of the full dynamical model.