Quasi-ideal dynamics of vortex solitons embedded in flattop nonlinear Bessel beams

Light Confinement with Structured Beams in Gold Nanoparticle Suspensions

We carry out an experimental campaign to investigate the nonlinear self-defocusing propagation of singular light beams with various complex structures of phase and intensity in a colloidal suspension of gold nanoparticles with a plasmonic resonance near the laser wavelength (532nm). Studying optical vortices embedded in Gaussian beams, Bessel vortices and Bessel-cosine (necklace) beams, we gather evidence that while intense vortices turn into two-dimensional dark solitons, all structured wavepackets are able to guide a weak Gaussian probe of different wavelength (632.8 nm) along the dark core. The probe confinement also depends on the topological charge of the singular pump.

Zeroth- and first-order long range non-diffracting Gauss-Bessel beams generated by annihilating multiple-charged optical vortices

We demonstrate an alternative approach for generating zeroth- and first-order long range non-diffracting Gauss–Bessel beams (GBBs). Starting from a Gaussian beam, the key point is the creation of a bright ring-shaped beam with a large radius-to-width ratio, which is subsequently Fourier-transformed by a thin lens. The phase profile required for creating zeroth-order GBBs is flat and helical for first-order GBBs with unit topological charge (TC). Both the ring-shaped beam and the required phase profile can be realized by creating highly charged optical vortices by a spatial light modulator and annihilating them by using a second modulator of the same type. The generated long-range GBBs are proven to have negligible transverse evolution up to 2 m and can be regarded as non-diffracting. The influences of the charge state of the TCs, the propagation distance behind the focusing lens, and the GBB profiles on the relative intensities of the peak/rings are discussed. The method is much more efficient as compared to this using annular slits in the back focal plane of lenses. Moreover, at large propagation distances the quality of the generated GBBs significantly surpasses this of GBBs created by low angle axicons. The developed analytical model reproduces the experimental data. The presented method is flexible, easily realizable by using a spatial light modulator, does not require any special optical elements and, thus, is accessible in many laboratories.

Purely Kerr nonlinear model admitting flat-top solitons

We elaborate one- and two-dimensional (1D and 2D) models of media with self-repulsive cubic nonlinearity, whose local strength is subject to spatial modulation that admits the existence of flat-top solitons of various types, including fundamental ones, 1D multipoles, and 2D vortices. Previously, solitons of this type were only produced by models with competing nonlinearities. The present setting may be implemented in optics and Bose-Einstein condensates. The 1D version gives rise to an exact analytical solution for stable flat-top solitons, and generic families may be predicted by means of the Thomas-Fermi approximation. Stability of the obtained flat-top solitons is analyzed by means of the linear-stability analysis and direct simulations. Fundamental solitons and 1D multipoles with k=1 and 2 nodes, as well as vortices with winding number m=1, are completely stable. For multipoles with k≥3 and vortices with m≥2, alternating stripes of stability and instability are identified in their parameter spaces.

Stable dissipative optical vortex clusters by inhomogeneous effective diffusion

We numerically show the generation of robust vortex clusters embedded in a two-dimensional beam propagating in a dissipative medium described by the generic cubic-quintic complex Ginzburg-Landau equation with an inhomogeneous effective diffusion term, which is asymmetrical in the two transverse directions and periodically modulated in the longitudinal direction. We show the generation of stable optical vortex clusters for different values of the winding number (topological charge) of the input optical beam. We have found that the number of individual vortex solitons that form the robust vortex cluster is equal to the winding number of the input beam. We have obtained the relationships between the amplitudes and oscillation periods of the inhomogeneous effective diffusion and the cubic gain and diffusion (viscosity) parameters, which depict the regions of existence and stability of vortex clusters. The obtained results offer a method to form robust vortex clusters embedded in two-dimensional optical beams, and we envisage potential applications in the area of structured light.