Nonlinearity-induced localization in a periodically driven semidiscrete system

We demonstrate that nonlinearity plays a constructive role in supporting the robustness of dynamical localization in a system which is discrete in one dimension and continuous in the orthogonal one. In the linear regime, time-periodic modulation of the gradient strength along the discrete axis leads to the usual rapid spread of an initially confined wave packet. Addition of the cubic nonlinearity makes the dynamics drastically different, inducing robust localization of moving wave packets. Similar nonlinearity-induced effects are also produced in the presence of a combination of static and oscillating linear potentials. The predicted dynamical localization in the nonlinear medium can be realized in photonic lattices and Bose-Einstein condensates.

Suppression of the critical collapse for one-dimensional solitons by saturable quintic nonlinear lattices

The stabilization of one-dimensional solitons by a nonlinear lattice against the critical collapse in the focusing quintic medium is a challenging issue. We demonstrate that this purpose can be achieved by combining a nonlinear lattice and saturation of the quintic nonlinearity. The system supports three species of solitons, namely, fundamental (even-parity) ones and dipole (odd-parity) modes of on- and off-site-centered types. Very narrow fundamental solitons are found in an approximate analytical form, and systematic results for very broad unstable and moderately broad partly stable solitons, including their existence and stability areas, are produced by means of numerical methods. Stability regions of the solitons are identified by means of systematic simulations. The stability of all the soliton species obeys the Vakhitov-Kolokolov criterion.

Dynamics of nonlinear Schrödinger breathers in a potential trap

We consider the evolution of the 2-soliton (breather) of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation on a semi-infinite line with the zero boundary condition and a linear potential, which corresponds to the gravity field in the presence of a hard floor. This setting can be implemented in atomic Bose-Einstein condensates, and in a nonlinear planar waveguide in optics. In the absence of the gravity, repulsion of the breather from the floor leads to its splitting into constituent fundamental solitons, if the initial distance from the floor is smaller than a critical value; otherwise, the moving breather persists. In the presence of gravity, the breather always splits into a pair of "co-hopping" fundamental solitons, which may be frequency locked in the form of a quasi-breather, or unlocked, forming an incoherent pseudo-breather. Some essential results are obtained in an analytical form, in addition to the systematic numerical investigation.

Stationary and oscillatory bound states of dissipative solitons created by third-order dispersion

We consider the model of fiber-laser cavities near the zero-dispersion point, based on the complex Ginzburg-Landau equation with the cubic-quintic nonlinearity and third-order dispersion (TOD) term. It is known that this model supports stable dissipative solitons. We demonstrate that the same model gives rise to several specific families of robust bound states of solitons. There are both stationary and dynamical bound states, with constant or oscillating separation between the bound solitons. Stationary states are multistable, corresponding to different values of the separation. Following the increase of the TOD coefficient, the stationary bound state with the smallest separation gives rise to the oscillatory one through the Hopf bifurcation. Further growth of TOD leads to a bifurcation transforming the oscillatory bound state into a chaotically oscillating one. Families of multistable three- and four-soliton complexes are found too, the ones with the smallest separation between the solitons again ending by the transition to oscillatory states through the Hopf bifurcation.

Interactions of three-dimensional solitons in the cubic-quintic model

We report results of a systematic numerical analysis of interactions between three-dimensional (3D) fundamental solitons, performed in the framework of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE) with the cubic-quintic (CQ) nonlinearity, combining the self-focusing and defocusing terms. The 3D NLSE with the CQ terms may be realized in terms of spatiotemporal propagation of light in nonlinear optical media, and in Bose-Einstein condensates, provided that losses may be neglected. The first part of the work addresses interactions between identical fundamental solitons, with phase shift φ between them, separated by a finite distance in the free space. The outcome strongly changes with the variation of φ: in-phase solitons with φ = 0, or with sufficiently small φ, merge into a single fundamental soliton, with weak residual oscillations in it (in contrast to the merger into a strongly oscillating breather, which is exhibited by the 1D version of the same setting), while the choice of φ = π leads to fast separation between mutually repelling solitons. At intermediate values of φ, such as φ = π/2, the interaction is repulsive too, breaking the symmetry between the initially identical fundamental solitons, there appearing two solitons with different total energies (norms). The symmetry-breaking effect is qualitatively explained, similar to how it was done previously for 1D solitons. In the second part of the work, a pair of fundamental solitons trapped in a 2D potential is considered. It is demonstrated that they may form a slowly rotating robust "molecule," if initial kicks are applied to them in opposite directions, perpendicular to the line connecting their centers.

One- and two-dimensional modes in the complex Ginzburg-Landau equation with a trapping potential

We propose a new mechanism for the stabilization of confined modes in lasers and semiconductor microcavities holding exciton-polariton condensates, with spatially uniform linear gain, cubic loss, and cubic self-focusing or defocusing nonlinearity. We demonstrated that the commonly known background instability driven by the linear gain can be suppressed by a combination of a harmonic-oscillator trapping potential and effective diffusion. Systematic numerical analysis of one- and two-dimensional (1D and 2D) versions of the model reveals a variety of stable modes, including stationary ones, breathers, and quasi-regular patterns filling the trapping area in the 1D case. In 2D, the analysis produces stationary modes, breathers, axisymmetric and rotating crescent-shaped vortices, stably rotating complexes built of up to 8 individual vortices, and, in addition, patterns featuring vortex turbulence. Existence boundaries for both 1D and 2D stationary modes are found in an exact analytical form, and an analytical approximation is developed for the full stationary states.

Numerical realization of the variational method for generating self-trapped beams

We introduce a numerical variational method based on the Rayleigh-Ritz optimization principle for predicting two-dimensional self-trapped beams in nonlinear media. This technique overcomes the limitation of the traditional variational approximation in performing analytical Lagrangian integration and differentiation. Approximate soliton solutions of a generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation are obtained, demonstrating robustness of the beams of various types (fundamental, vortices, multipoles, azimuthons) in the course of their propagation. The algorithm offers possibilities to produce more sophisticated soliton profiles in general nonlinear models.

Surface modes in plasmonic Bragg fibers with negative average permittivity

We investigate surface modes in plasmonic Bragg fibers composed of nanostructured coaxial cylindrical metal-dielectric multilayers. We demonstrate that the existence of surface modes is determined by the sign of the spatially averaged permittivity of the plasmonic Bragg fiber, ε¯. Specifically, localized surface modes occur at the interface between the cylindrical core with ε¯<0 and the outermost uniform dielectric medium, which is similar to the topologically protected plasmonic surface modes at the interface between two different one-dimensional planar metal-dielectric lattices with opposite signs of the averaged permittivity. Moreover, when increasing the number of dielectric-metal rings, the propagation constant of surface modes with different azimuthal mode numbers is approaching that of surface plasmon polaritons formed at the corresponding planar metal/dielectric interface. Robustness of such surface modes of plasmonic Bragg fibers is demonstrated as well.

Dissociation of One-Dimensional Matter-Wave Breathers due to Quantum Many-Body Effects

We use the ab initio Bethe ansatz dynamics to predict the dissociation of one-dimensional cold-atom breathers that are created by a quench from a fundamental soliton. We find that the dissociation is a robust quantum many-body effect, while in the mean-field (MF) limit the dissociation is forbidden by the integrability of the underlying nonlinear Schrödinger equation. The analysis demonstrates the possibility to observe quantum many-body effects without leaving the MF range of experimental parameters. We find that the dissociation time is of the order of a few seconds for a typical atomic-soliton setting.

Polarization dynamics in twisted fiber amplifiers: a non-Hermitian nonlinear dimer model

We study continuous-wave light propagation through a twisted birefringent single-mode fiber amplifier with saturable nonlinearity. The corresponding coupled-mode system is isomorphic to a non-Hermitian nonlinear dimer and gives rise to analytic polarization-mode dynamics. It provides an optical simulation of the semi-classical non-Hermitian Bose-Hubbard model and suggests its use for the design of polarization circulators and filters, as well as sources of polarized light.

Models of spin-orbit-coupled oligomers

We address the stability and dynamics of eigenmodes in linearly shaped strings (dimers, trimers, tetramers, and pentamers) built of droplets in a binary Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). The binary BEC is composed of atoms in two pseudo-spin states with attractive interactions, dressed by properly arranged laser fields, which induce the (pseudo-) spin-orbit (SO) coupling. We demonstrate that the SO-coupling terms help to create eigenmodes of particular types in the strings. Dimer, trimer, and pentamer eigenmodes of the linear system, which correspond to the zero eigenvalue (EV, alias chemical potential) extend into the nonlinear ones, keeping an exact analytical form, while tetramers do not admit such a continuation, because the respective spectrum does not contain a zero EV. Stability areas of these modes shrink with the increasing nonlinearity. Besides these modes, other types of nonlinear states, which are produced by the continuation of their linear counterparts corresponding to some nonzero EVs, are found in a numerical form (including ones for the tetramer system). They are stable in nearly entire existence regions in trimer and pentamer systems, but only in a very small area for the tetramers. Similar results are also obtained, but not displayed in detail, for hexa- and septamers.

Single and double linear and nonlinear flatband chains: Spectra and modes

We report results of systematic analysis of various modes in the flatband lattice, based on the diamond-chain model with the on-site cubic nonlinearity, and its double version with the linear on-site mixing between the two lattice fields. In the single-chain system, a full analysis is presented, first, for the single nonlinear cell, making it possible to find all stationary states, viz., antisymmetric, symmetric, and asymmetric ones, including an exactly investigated symmetry-breaking bifurcation of the subcritical type. In the nonlinear infinite single-component chain, compact localized states (CLSs) are found in an exact form too, as an extension of known compact eigenstates of the linear diamond chain. Their stability is studied by means of analytical and numerical methods, revealing a nontrivial stability boundary. In addition to the CLSs, various species of extended states and exponentially localized lattice solitons of symmetric and asymmetric types are also studied, by means of numerical calculations and variational approximation. As a result, existence and stability areas are identified for these modes. Finally, the linear version of the double diamond chain is solved in an exact form, producing two split flatbands in the system's spectrum.

Localized dark solitons and vortices in defocusing media with spatially inhomogeneous nonlinearity

Recent studies have demonstrated that defocusing cubic nonlinearity with local strength growing from the center to the periphery faster than r^{D}, in space of dimension D with radial coordinate r, supports a vast variety of robust bright solitons. In the framework of the same model, but with a weaker spatial-growth rate ∼r^{α} with α≤D, we test here the possibility to create stable localized continuous waves (LCWs) in one-dimensional (1D) and 2D geometries, localized dark solitons (LDSs) in one dimension, and localized dark vortices (LDVs) in two dimensions, which are all realized as loosely confined states with a divergent norm. Asymptotic tails of the solutions, which determine the divergence of the norm, are constructed in a universal analytical form by means of the Thomas-Fermi approximation (TFA). Global approximations for the LCWs, LDSs, and LDVs are constructed on the basis of interpolations between analytical approximations available far from (TFA) and close to the center. In particular, the interpolations for the 1D LDS, as well as for the 2D LDVs, are based on a deformed-tanh expression, which is suggested by the usual 1D dark-soliton solution. The analytical interpolations produce very accurate results, in comparison with numerical findings, for the 1D and 2D LCWs, 1D LDSs, and 2D LDVs with vorticity S=1. In addition to the 1D fundamental LDSs with the single notch and 2D vortices with S=1, higher-order LDSs with multiple notches are found too, as well as double LDVs, with S=2. Stability regions for the modes under consideration are identified by means of systematic simulations, the LCWs being completely stable in one and two dimensions, as they are ground states in the corresponding settings. Basic evolution scenarios are identified for those vortices that are unstable. The settings considered in this work may be implemented in nonlinear optics and in Bose-Einstein condensates.

Solitons supported by singular modulation of the cubic nonlinearity

A model of the optical media with a spatially structured Kerr nonlinearity is introduced. The nonlinearity strength is modulated by a set of singular peaks on top of a self-focusing or defocusing uniform background. The peaks may include a repulsive or attractive linear potential too. We find that a pair of mutually symmetric peaks readily gives rise to the spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) of modes pinned to individual peaks, while antisymmetric pinned modes are always unstable, transforming into robust spatially odd breathers. Three- and five-peak structures support symmetric modes, with in-phase or twisted profiles, and do not give rise to asymmetric states. A stability area is found for the twisted states pinned to the triple peaks, while the corresponding in-phase modes are unstable, unless the three modulation peaks are set very close to each other, covered by a single-peak pinned mode. All patterns pinned to five peaks are unstable too. Collisions of moving solitons with the singular-modulation peak are studied too. Slowly moving solitons bounce back from the peak, while the collisions are quasi-elastic for fast solitons. In the intermediate case, the soliton is destroyed by the collision. In a special case, the condition of a resonance of the incident soliton with a trapped mode supported by the peak leads to capture of the soliton.

Families of stable solitons and excitations in the PT-symmetric nonlinear Schrödinger equations with position-dependent effective masses

Since the parity-time-([Formula: see text]-) symmetric quantum mechanics was put forward, fundamental properties of some linear and nonlinear models with [Formula: see text]-symmetric potentials have been investigated. However, previous studies of [Formula: see text]-symmetric waves were limited to constant diffraction coefficients in the ambient medium. Here we address effects of variable diffraction coefficient on the beam dynamics in nonlinear media with generalized [Formula: see text]-symmetric Scarf-II potentials. The broken linear [Formula: see text] symmetry phase may enjoy a restoration with the growing diffraction parameter. Continuous families of one- and two-dimensional solitons are found to be stable. Particularly, some stable solitons are analytically found. The existence range and propagation dynamics of the solitons are identified. Transformation of the solitons by means of adiabatically varying parameters, and collisions between solitons are studied too. We also explore the evolution of constant-intensity waves in a model combining the variable diffraction coefficient and complex potentials with globally balanced gain and loss, which are more general than [Formula: see text]-symmetric ones, but feature similar properties. Our results may suggest new experiments for [Formula: see text]-symmetric nonlinear waves in nonlinear nonuniform optical media.

Gap solitons in Rabi lattices

We introduce a two-component one-dimensional system, which is based on two nonlinear Schrödinger or Gross-Pitaevskii equations (GPEs) with spatially periodic modulation of linear coupling ("Rabi lattice") and self-repulsive nonlinearity. The system may be realized in a binary Bose-Einstein condensate, whose components are resonantly coupled by a standing optical wave, as well as in terms of the bimodal light propagation in periodically twisted waveguides. The system supports various types of gap solitons (GSs), which are constructed, and their stability is investigated, in the first two finite bandgaps of the underlying spectrum. These include on- and off-site-centered solitons (the GSs of the off-site type are additionally categorized as spatially even and odd ones), which may be symmetric or antisymmetric, with respect to the coupled components. The GSs are chiefly stable in the first finite bandgap and unstable in the second one. In addition to that, there are narrow regions near the right edge of the first bandgap, and in the second one, which feature intricate alternation of stability and instability. Unstable solitons evolve into robust breathers or spatially confined turbulent modes. On-site-centered GSs are also considered in a version of the system that is made asymmetric by the Zeeman effect, or by birefringence of the optical waveguide. A region of alternate stability is found in the latter case too. In the limit of strong asymmetry, GSs are obtained in a semianalytical approximation, which reduces two coupled GPEs to a single one with an effective lattice potential.

Cross-symmetric dipolar-matter-wave solitons in double-well chains

We consider a dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate trapped in an array of two-well systems with an arbitrary orientation of the dipoles relative to the system's axis. The system can be built as a chain of local traps sliced into two parallel lattices by a repelling laser sheet. It is modeled by a pair of coupled discrete Gross-Pitaevskii equations, with dipole-dipole self-interactions and cross interactions. When the dipoles are not polarized perpendicular or parallel to the lattice, the cross interaction is asymmetric, replacing the familiar symmetric two-component discrete solitons by two new species of cross-symmetric ones, viz., on-site- and off-site-centered solitons, which are strongly affected by the orientation of the dipoles and separation between the parallel lattices. A very narrow region of intermediate asymmetric discrete solitons is found at the boundary between the on- and off-site families. Two different types of solitons in the PT-symmetric version of the system are constructed too, and stability areas are identified for them.

Rotating vortex clusters in media with inhomogeneous defocusing nonlinearity

We show that media with inhomogeneous defocusing cubic nonlinearity growing toward the periphery can support a variety of stable vortex clusters nested in a common localized envelope. Nonrotating symmetric clusters are built from an even number of vortices with opposite topological charges, located at equal distances from the origin. Rotation makes the clusters strongly asymmetric, as the centrifugal force shifts some vortices to the periphery, while others approach the origin, depending on the topological charge. We obtain such asymmetric clusters as stationary states in the rotating coordinate frame, identify their existence domains, and show that the rotation may stabilize some of them.

Higher-order vector discrete rogue-wave states in the coupled Ablowitz-Ladik equations: Exact solutions and stability

An integrable system of two-component nonlinear Ablowitz-Ladik equations is used to construct complex rogue-wave (RW) solutions in an explicit form. First, the modulational instability of continuous waves is studied in the system. Then, new higher-order discrete two-component RW solutions of the system are found by means of a newly derived discrete version of a generalized Darboux transformation. Finally, the perturbed evolution of these RW states is explored in terms of systematic simulations, which demonstrates that tightly and loosely bound RWs are, respectively, nearly stable and strongly unstable solutions.

PT-symmetric couplers with competing cubic-quintic nonlinearities

We introduce a one-dimensional model of the parity-time ( PT)-symmetric coupler, with mutually balanced linear gain and loss acting in the two cores, and nonlinearity represented by the combination of self-focusing cubic and defocusing quintic terms in each core. The system may be realized in optical waveguides, in the spatial and temporal domains alike. Stationary solutions for PT-symmetric solitons in the systems are tantamount to their counterparts in the ordinary coupler with the cubic-quintic nonlinearity, where the spontaneous symmetry breaking of solitons is accounted for by bifurcation loops. A novel problem is stability of the PT-symmetric solitons, which is affected by the competition of the PT symmetry, linear coupling, cubic self-focusing, and quintic defocusing. As a result, the solitons become unstable against symmetry breaking with the increase of the energy (alias integral power, in terms of the spatial-domain realization), and they retrieve the stability at still larger energies. Above a certain value of the strength of the quintic self-defocusing, the PT symmetry of the solitons becomes unbreakable. In the same system, PT-antisymmetric solitons are entirely unstable. We identify basic scenarios of the evolution of unstable solitons, which may lead to generation of additional ones, while stronger instability creates expanding quasi-turbulent patterns with limited amplitudes. Collisions between stable solitons are demonstrated to be quasi-elastic.

Unidirectional transport of wave packets through tilted discrete breathers in nonlinear lattices with asymmetric defects

We consider the transfer of lattice wave packets through a tilted discrete breather (TDB) in opposite directions in the discrete nonlinear Schrödinger model with asymmetric defects, which may be realized as a Bose-Einstein condensate trapped in a deep optical lattice, or as optical beams in a waveguide array. A unidirectional transport mode is found, in which the incident wave packets, whose energy belongs to a certain interval between full reflection and full passage regions, pass the TDB only in one direction, while in the absence of the TDB, the same lattice admits bidirectional propagation. The operation of this mode is accurately explained by an analytical consideration of the respective energy barriers. The results suggest that the TDB may emulate the unidirectional propagation of atomic and optical beams in various settings. In the case of the passage of the incident wave packet, the scattering TDB typically shifts by one lattice unit in the direction from which the wave packet arrives, which is an example of the tractor-beam effect, provided by the same system, in addition to the rectification of incident waves.

Two-dimensional symbiotic solitons and vortices in binary condensates with attractive cross-species interaction

We consider a two-dimensional (2D) two-component spinor system with cubic attraction between the components and intra-species self-repulsion, which may be realized in atomic Bose-Einstein condensates, as well as in a quasi-equilibrium condensate of microcavity polaritons. Including a 2D spatially periodic potential, which is necessary for the stabilization of the system against the critical collapse, we use detailed numerical calculations and an analytical variational approximation (VA) to predict the existence and stability of several types of 2D symbiotic solitons in the spinor system. Stability ranges are found for symmetric and asymmetric symbiotic fundamental solitons and vortices, including hidden-vorticity (HV) modes, with opposite vorticities in the two components. The VA produces exceptionally accurate predictions for the fundamental solitons and vortices. The fundamental solitons, both symmetric and asymmetric ones, are completely stable, in either case when they exist as gap solitons or regular ones. The symmetric and asymmetric vortices are stable if the inter-component attraction is stronger than the intra-species repulsion, while the HV modes have their stability region in the opposite case.

Vortex-soliton complexes in coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations with unequal dispersion coefficients

We consider a two-component, two-dimensional nonlinear Schrödinger system with unequal dispersion coefficients and self-defocusing nonlinearities, chiefly with equal strengths of the self- and cross-interactions. In this setting, a natural waveform with a nonvanishing background in one component is a vortex, which induces an effective potential well in the second component, via the nonlinear coupling of the two components. We show that the potential well may support not only the fundamental bound state, but also multiring excited radial state complexes for suitable ranges of values of the dispersion coefficient of the second component. We systematically explore the existence, stability, and nonlinear dynamics of these states. The complexes involving the excited radial states are weakly unstable, with a growth rate depending on the dispersion of the second component. Their evolution leads to transformation of the multiring complexes into stable vortex-bright solitons ones with the fundamental state in the second component. The excited states may be stabilized by a harmonic-oscillator trapping potential, as well as by unequal strengths of the self- and cross-repulsive nonlinearities.

Vortex solitons in two-dimensional spin-orbit coupled Bose-Einstein condensates: Effects of the Rashba-Dresselhaus coupling and Zeeman splitting

We present an analysis of two-dimensional (2D) matter-wave solitons, governed by the pseudospinor system of Gross-Pitaevskii equations with self- and cross attraction, which includes the spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in the general Rashba-Dresselhaus form, and, separately, the Rashba coupling and the Zeeman splitting. Families of semivortex (SV) and mixed-mode (MM) solitons are constructed, which exist and are stable in free space, as the SOC terms prevent the onset of the critical collapse and create the otherwise missing ground states in the form of the solitons. The Dresselhaus SOC produces a destructive effect on the vortex solitons, while the Zeeman term tends to convert the MM states into the SV ones, which eventually suffer delocalization. Existence domains and stability boundaries are identified for the soliton families. For physically relevant parameters of the SOC system, the number of atoms in the 2D solitons is limited by ∼1.5×10^{4}. The results are obtained by means of combined analytical and numerical methods.

Spatiotemporal accessible solitons in fractional dimensions

We report solutions for solitons of the "accessible" type in globally nonlocal nonlinear media of fractional dimension (FD), viz., for self-trapped modes in the space of effective dimension 2<D≤3 with harmonic-oscillator potential whose strength is proportional to the total power of the wave field. The solutions are categorized by a combination of radial, orbital, and azimuthal quantum numbers (n,l,m). They feature coaxial sets of vortical and necklace-shaped rings of different orders, and can be exactly written in terms of special functions that include Gegenbauer polynomials, associated Laguerre polynomials, and associated Legendre functions. The validity of these solutions is verified by direct simulations. The model can be realized in various physical settings emulated by FD spaces; in particular, it applies to excitons trapped in quantum wells.