Topological States in Partially-PT-Symmetric Azimuthal Potentials

Stable higher-charge vortex solitons in the cubic-quintic medium with a ring potential

We put forward a model for trapping stable optical vortex solitons (VSs) with high topological charges m. The cubic-quintic nonlinear medium with an imprinted ring-shaped modulation of the refractive index is shown to support two branches of VSs, which are controlled by the radius, width, and depth of the modulation profile. While the lower-branch VSs are unstable in their nearly whole existence domain, the upper branch is completely stable. Vortex solitons with m ≤  12 obey the anti-Vakhitov-Kolokolov stability criterion. The results suggest possibilities for the creation of stable narrow optical VSs with a low power, carrying higher vorticities.

Vortex Solitons in Twisted Circular Waveguide Arrays

We address the formation of topological states in twisted circular waveguide arrays and find that twisting leads to important differences of the fundamental properties of new vortex solitons with opposite topological charges that arise in the nonlinear regime. We find that such system features the rare property that clockwise and counterclockwise vortex states are nonequivalent. Focusing on arrays with C_{6v} discrete rotation symmetry, we find that a longitudinal twist stabilizes the vortex solitons with the lowest topological charges m=±1, which are always unstable in untwisted arrays with the same symmetry. Twisting also leads to the appearance of instability domains for otherwise stable solitons with m=±2 and generates vortex modes with topological charges m=±3 that are forbidden in untwisted arrays. By and large, we establish a rigorous relation between the discrete rotation symmetry of the array, its twist direction, and the possible soliton topological charges.

Dissipative solitons supported by transversal single- or three-channel amplifying chirped lattices

We study the properties of dissipative solitons supported by a chirped lattice in a focusing Kerr medium with nonlinear loss and a transversal linear gain landscape consisting of single or three amplifying channels. The existence and stability of two types of dissipative solitons, including fundamental and three-peaked twisted solitons, have been explored. Stable fundamental solitons can only be found in a single-channel gain chirped lattice, and stable three-peaked twisted solitons can only be obtained in a three-channel gain chirped lattice. The instability of two types of dissipative solitons can be suppressed at a high chirp rate. Also, robust fundamental and three-peaked twisted nonlinear states can be obtained by excitation of Gaussian beams of arbitrary width in corresponding characteristic structures.

Arc-shaped solitons on a gain-loss ring

We address the properties of arc-shaped solitons supported by defocusing nonlinearity on a partially-parity-time symmetric ring, including the existence and stability. Four types of arc-shaped solitons are found. The existence region of arc-shaped solitons with two or more bright spots is the same, while it is slightly smaller in value than that of fundamental solitons. Also, the existence domains of arc-shaped solitons shrink with the increase of the strength of the gain and loss term. At moderate gain and loss levels, stable arc-shaped solitons are usually localized in the middle of their existence domain. The characteristics of unstable arc-shaped solitons are considered to be related to the power-flow of the solitons, because the sidelobes of solitons extend to multiple Gaussian waveguides at both ends of their existence, and then not all the power-flows in each Gaussian waveguide flow from the gain to the loss region. Otherwise, robust nonlinear arc-shaped states with four different bright spots can be excited by Gaussian beams. This work offers us new insight and understanding of optical solitons on a partially-parity-time symmetric ring.

Robust [Formula: see text] symmetry of two-dimensional fundamental and vortex solitons supported by spatially modulated nonlinearity

The real spectrum of bound states produced by [Formula: see text]-symmetric Hamiltonians usually suffers breakup at a critical value of the strength of gain-loss terms, i.e., imaginary part of the complex potential. The breakup essentially impedes the use of [Formula: see text]-symmetric systems for various applications. On the other hand, it is known that the [Formula: see text] symmetry can be made unbreakable in a one-dimensional (1D) model with self-defocusing nonlinearity whose strength grows fast enough from the center to periphery. The model is nonlinearizable, i.e., it does not have a linear spectrum, while the (unbreakable) [Formula: see text] symmetry in it is defined by spectra of continuous families of nonlinear self-trapped states (solitons). Here we report results for a 2D nonlinearizable model whose [Formula: see text] symmetry remains unbroken for arbitrarily large values of the gain-loss coefficient. Further, we introduce an extended 2D model with the imaginary part of potential ~xy in the Cartesian coordinates. The latter model is not a [Formula: see text]-symmetric one, but it also supports continuous families of self-trapped states, thus suggesting an extension of the concept of the [Formula: see text] symmetry. For both models, universal analytical forms are found for nonlinearizable tails of the 2D modes, and full exact solutions are produced for particular solitons, including ones with the unbreakable [Formula: see text] symmetry, while generic soliton families are found in a numerical form. The [Formula: see text]-symmetric system gives rise to generic families of stable single- and double-peak 2D solitons (including higher-order radial states of the single-peak solitons), as well as families of stable vortex solitons with m = 1, 2, and 3. In the model with imaginary potential ~xy, families of single- and multi-peak solitons and vortices are stable if the imaginary potential is subject to spatial confinement. In an elliptically deformed version of the latter model, an exact solution is found for vortex solitons with m = 1.

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.

Stable vortex solitons in a ring-shaped partially-PT-symmetric potential

We address the existence and stability of vortex solitons in a ring-shaped partially-parity-time (pPT) configuration. In sharp contrast to the reported nonlinear modes in PT- or pPT-symmetric systems, stable vortex solitons with different topological charges can be supported by the proposed pPT potential, despite the system always being beyond the symmetry-breaking point. Vortex solitons are characterized by the number of phase singularities which equals the corresponding topological charge. At higher power, unstable higher-charged vortices degenerate into stable vortices with lower charges. Robust nonlinear vortices can be easily excited by an input Gaussian beam. Our results provide, to the best of our knowledge, the first example of stable solitons in a symmetry-breaking system.

2D in-band solitons in PT-symmetric waveguide arrays

We address two types of two-dimensional (2D) localized solitons in Kerr media with an imprinted quasi-one-dimensional lattice featuring a parity-time (PT) symmetry. Solitary waves originating from the edges of the Bloch bands are stable in their entire existence domains. Purely nonlinear multipeaked states propagate stably in wide parameter windows. Both types of nonlinear waves exist in the finite bandgaps of the corresponding linear system and, cross-continuously, the Bloch band (continuous spectrum) sandwiched between (or neighboring) them. To the best of our knowledge, our findings thus provide the first example of "embedded solitons" in 2D PT periodic systems.

Solitonic dynamics and excitations of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation with third-order dispersion in non-Hermitian PT-symmetric potentials

Solitons are of the important significant in many fields of nonlinear science such as nonlinear optics, Bose-Einstein condensates, plamas physics, biology, fluid mechanics, and etc. The stable solitons have been captured not only theoretically and experimentally in both linear and nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equations in the presence of non-Hermitian potentials since the concept of the parity-time -symmetry was introduced in 1998. In this paper, we present novel bright solitons of the NLS equation with third-order dispersion in some complex -symmetric potentials (e.g., physically relevant -symmetric Scarff-II-like and harmonic-Gaussian potentials). We find stable nonlinear modes even if the respective linear -symmetric phases are broken. Moreover, we also use the adiabatic changes of the control parameters to excite the initial modes related to exact solitons to reach stable nonlinear modes. The elastic interactions of two solitons are exhibited in the third-order NLS equation with -symmetric potentials. Our results predict the dynamical phenomena of soliton equations in the presence of third-order dispersion and -symmetric potentials arising in nonlinear fiber optics and other physically relevant fields.