Tunable subwavelength photonic lattices and solitons in periodically patterned graphene monolayer

Spatial solitons in an electrically driven graphene multilayer medium

We investigate the evolution of coupled optical solitons in a multilayer graphene medium. The considered graphene medium is subjected to microwave voltage biasing. The coupled two optical solitons emerge through the electrical (i.e., microwave voltage) perturbation of the effective permittivity of the graphene multilayer. We show that the coupled solitons are electrically adjustable by controlling the amplitude and frequency of the biasing microwave voltage. Importantly, this proposed regime of electrically controlled optical solitons offers a modality to generate entangled optical solitons and two-mode squeezed solitons. Furthermore, the hybrid interaction that includes both the driving microwave voltage and the optical solitons yields a platform to combine the two worlds of quantum photonics and quantum superconducting systems.

Nonlinear Optics with 2D Layered Materials

2D layered materials (2DLMs) are a subject of intense research for a wide variety of applications (e.g., electronics, photonics, and optoelectronics) due to their unique physical properties. Most recently, increasing research efforts on 2DLMs are projected toward the nonlinear optical properties of 2DLMs, which are not only fascinating from the fundamental science point of view but also intriguing for various potential applications. Here, the current state of the art in the field of nonlinear optics based on 2DLMs and their hybrid structures (e.g., mixed-dimensional heterostructures, plasmonic structures, and silicon/fiber integrated structures) is reviewed. Several potential perspectives and possible future research directions of these promising nanomaterials for nonlinear optics are also presented.

Aberrated surface soliton formation in a nonlinear 1D and 2D photonic crystal

We discuss a novel type of surface soliton-aberrated surface soliton-appearance in a nonlinear one dimensional photonic crystal and a possibility of this surface soliton formation in two dimensional photonic crystal. An aberrated surface soliton possesses a nonlinear distribution of the wavefront. We show that, in one dimensional photonic crystal, the surface soliton is formed at the photonic crystal boundary with the ambient medium. Essentially, that it occupies several layers at the photonic crystal boundary and penetrates into the ambient medium at a distance also equal to several layers, so that one can infer about light energy localization at the lateral surface of the photonic crystal. In the one dimensional case, the surface soliton is formed from an earlier formed soliton that falls along the photonic crystal layers at an angle which differs slightly from the normal to the photonic crystal face. In the two dimensional case, the soliton can appear if an incident Gaussian beam falls on the photonic crystal face. The influence of laser radiation parameters, optical properties of photonic crystal layers and ambient medium on the one dimensional surface soliton formation is investigated. We also discuss the influence of two dimensional photonic crystal configuration on light energy localization near the photonic crystal surface. It is important that aberrated surface solitons can be created at relatively low laser pulse intensity and for close values of alternating layers dielectric permittivity which allows their experimental observation.

Enhanced optical gradient forces between coupled graphene sheets

Optical gradient forces between monolayer infinite-width graphene sheets as well as single-mode graphene nanoribbon pairs of graphene surface plasmons (GSPs) at mid-infrared frequencies were theoretically investigated. Although owing to the strongly enhanced optical field, the normalized optical force, fn, can reach 50 nN/μm/mW, which is the largest fn as we know, the propagation loss is also large. But we found that by changing the chemical potential of graphene, fn and the optical propagation loss can be balanced. The total optical force acted on the nanoribbon waveguides can thus enhance more than 1 order of magnitude than that in metallic surface plasmons (MSPs) waveguides with the same length and the loss can be lower. Owing to the enhanced optical force and the significant neff tuning by varying the chemical potential of graphene, we also propose an ultra-compact phase shifter.

Novel p-wave superfluids of fermionic polar molecules

Recently suggested subwavelength lattices offer remarkable prospects for the observation of novel superfluids of fermionic polar molecules. It becomes realistic to obtain a topological p-wave superfluid of microwave-dressed polar molecules in 2D lattices at temperatures of the order of tens of nanokelvins, which is promising for topologically protected quantum information processing. Another foreseen novel phase is an interlayer p-wave superfluid of polar molecules in a bilayer geometry.

Discrete plasmonic solitons in graphene-coated nanowire arrays

We study the discrete soliton formation in one- and two-dimensional arrays of nanowires coated with graphene monolayers. Highly confined solitons, including the fundamental and the higher-order modes, are found to be supported by the proposed structure with a low level of power flow. Numerical analysis reveals that, by tuning the input intensity and Fermi energy, the beam diffraction, soliton dimension and propagation loss can be fully controlled in a broad range, indicating potential values of the graphene-based solitons in nonlinear/active nanophotonic systems.

Tunable Anderson localization in disorder graphene sheet arrays

We study the electromagnetic wave propagating in coupled monolayer graphene waveguide arrays (CMGWAs). It is found that Anderson localization exists when the disorder in the coupling strength between adjacent waveguides is introduced. We find that changing the statistical parameters of the disorder coupling strength between waveguides can be used to tailor the properties of the Anderson localization modes in the strong coupling region which is beyond the coupled-mode theory. Benefiting from the electric tunable surface conductivity, we further demonstrate via the full vectorial simulation that the localization strength of the Anderson localized mode can be manipulated by changing the applied gate voltage on the CMGWAs. Our results might facilitate the manipulation of electromagnetic wave propagation in the coupled waveguide array system.

Diffraction control of subwavelength structured light beams in Kapitza media

Kapitza tandem structures, consisting of thin alternating layers with opposite signs of the dielectric permittivity, have been recently predicted to afford diffraction arrest of focused microwave radiation [Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 143901 (2013)]. Here we study the applicability of the Kapitza effect to control the propagation of structured subwavelength light beams. We show that a sufficiently deep modulation of the dielectric permittivity allows a nearly complete diffraction cancellation of multiple-peak subwavelength beams, and we study how the degree of diffraction cancellation decreases as the spatial spectrum of the input beam broadens. We also find that subwavelength light beams can be steered by varying the depth of the permittivity modulation. In particular, a sufficiently large permittivity modulation is shown to cause otherwise titled inputs to propagate always along the direction of modulation.

Tunable deep-subwavelength superscattering using graphene monolayers

In this Letter, we theoretically propose for the first time that graphene monolayers can be used for superscatterer designs. We show that the scattering cross-section of the bare deep-subwavelength dielectric cylinder is markedly enhanced by six orders of magnitude due to the excitation of the first-order resonance of graphene plamons. By utilizing the tunability of the plasmonic resonance through tuning graphene's chemical potential, the graphene superscatterer works in a wide range of frequencies from several terahertz to tens of terahertz.

Self-deflecting plasmonic lattice solitons and surface modes in chirped plasmonic arrays

We show that chirped metal-dielectric waveguide arrays with focusing cubic nonlinearity can support plasmonic lattice solitons that undergo self-deflection in the transverse plane. Such lattice solitons are deeply subwavelength self-sustained excitations, although they cover several periods of the array. Upon propagation, the excitations accelerate in the transverse plane and follow trajectories curved in the direction in which the separation between neighboring metallic layers decreases, a phenomenon that yields considerable deflection angles. The deflection angle can be controlled by varying the array chirp. We also reveal the existence of surface modes at the boundary of truncated plasmonic chirped array that form even in the absence of nonlinearity.

Subwavelength binary plasmonic solitons

We study the formation of subwavelength solitons in binary metal-dielectric lattices. We show that the transverse modulation of the lattice constant breaks the fundamental plasmonic band and suppresses the discrete diffraction of surface plasmon waves. New types of plasmonic solitons are found, and their characteristics are analyzed. We also demonstrate the existence of photonic-plasmonic vector solitons and elucidate their propagation properties.

Nonlinear Photonics 2014: introduction

International Conference "Nonlinear Photonics-2014" took place in Barcelona, Spain on July 27-31, 2014. It was a part of the "Advanced Photonics Congress" which is becoming a traditional notable event in the world of photonics. The current focus issue of Optics Express contains contributions from the participants of the Conference and the Congress. The articles in this focus issue by no means represent the total number of the congress contributions (around 400). However, it demonstrates wide range of topics covered at the event. The next conference of this series is to be held in 2016 in Australia, which is the home of many researchers working in the field of photonics in general and nonlinear photonics in particular.