We consider linear and nonlinear modes pinned to a grating-free (gapless) layer placed between two symmetric or asymmetric semi-infinite Bragg gratings (BGs), with a possible phase shift between them, in a medium with the uniform Kerr nonlinearity. The asymmetry is defined by a difference between bandgap widths in the two BGs. In the linear system, exact defect modes (DMs) are found. Composite gap solitons pinned to the central layer are found too, in analytical and numerical forms, in the nonlinear model. In the asymmetric system, existence boundaries for the DMs and gap solitons, due to the competition between attraction to the gapless layer and repulsion from the reflectivity step, are obtained analytically. Stability boundaries for solitons in the asymmetric system are identified by means of direct simulations. Collisions of moving BG solitons with the gapless layer are studied too.
We report results of the analysis for families of one-dimensional (1D) trapped solitons, created by competing self-focusing (SF) quintic and self-defocusing (SDF) cubic nonlinear terms. Two trapping potentials are considered, the harmonic-oscillator (HO) and delta-functional ones. The models apply to optical solitons in colloidal waveguides and other photonic media, and to matter-wave solitons in Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) loaded into a quasi-1D trap. For the HO potential, the results are obtained in an approximate form, using the variational and Thomas-Fermi approximations (VA and TFA), and in a full numerical form, including the ground state and the first antisymmetric excited one. For the delta-functional attractive potential, the results are produced in a fully analytical form, and verified by means of numerical methods. Both exponentially localized solitons and weakly localized trapped modes are found for the delta-functional potential. The most essential conclusions concern the applicability of competing Vakhitov-Kolokolov (VK) and anti-VK criteria to the identification of the stability of solitons created under the action of the competing SF and SDF terms.
We introduce a discrete lossy system, into which a double hot spot (HS) is inserted, i.e., two mutually symmetric sites carrying linear gain and cubic nonlinearity. The system can be implemented as an array of optical or plasmonic waveguides, with a pair of amplified nonlinear cores embedded into it. We focus on the case of the self-defocusing nonlinearity and cubic losses acting at the HSs. Symmetric localized modes pinned to the double HS are constructed in an implicit analytical form, which is done separately for the cases of odd and even numbers of intermediate sites between the HSs. In the former case, some stationary solutions feature a W-like shape, with a low peak at the central site, added to tall peaks at the positions of the embedded HSs. The special case of two adjacent HSs is considered too. Stability of the solution families against small perturbations is investigated in a numerical form, which reveals stable and unstable subfamilies. The instability of symmetric modes accounting for by an isolated positive eigenvalue leads to their spontaneous transformation into co-existing stable antisymmetric modes, while the instability represented by a pair of complex-conjugate eigenvalues gives rise to persistent breathers.
We introduce the simplest one-dimensional nonlinear model with the parity-time (PT) symmetry, which makes it possible to find exact analytical solutions for localized modes (solitons). The PT-symmetric element is represented by a point-like (delta-functional) gain-loss dipole {delta}^{prime}(x), combined with the usual attractive potential {delta}(x). The nonlinearity is represented by self-focusing (SF) or self-defocusing (SDF) Kerr terms, both spatially uniform and localized ones. The system can be implemented in planar optical waveguides. For the sake of comparison, also introduced is a model with separated {delta}-functional gain and loss, embedded into the linear medium and combined with the {delta}-localized Kerr nonlinearity and attractive potential. Full analytical solutions for pinned modes are found in both models. The exact solutions are compared with numerical counterparts, which are obtained in the gain-loss-dipole model with the {delta}^{prime}- and {delta}- functions replaced by their Lorentzian regularization. With the increase of the dipoles strength, {gamma}, the single-peak shape of the numerically found mode, supported by the uniform SF nonlinearity, transforms into a double-peak one. This transition coincides with the onset of the escape instability of the pinned soliton. In the case of the SDF uniform nonlinearity, the pinned modes are stable, keeping the single-peak shape.
We construct dark solitons in the recently introduced model of the nonlinear dual-core coupler with the mutually balanced gain and loss applied to the two cores, which is a realization of parity-time symmetry in nonlinear optics. The main issue is stability of the dark solitons. The modulational stability of the CW (continuous-wave) background, which supports the dark solitons, is studied analytically, and the full stability is investigated in a numerical form, via computation of eigenvalues for modes of small perturbations. Stability regions are thus identified in the parameter space of the system, and verified in direct simulations. Collisions between stable dark solitons are briefly considered too.
We consider a two-component one-dimensional model of gap solitons (GSs), which is based on two nonlinear Schrodinger equations, coupled by repulsive XPM (cross-phase-modulation) terms, in the absence of the SPM (self-phase-modulation) nonlinearity. The equations include a periodic potential acting on both components, thus giving rise to GSs of the symbiotic type, which exist solely due to the repulsive interaction between the two components. The model may be implemented for holographic solitons in optics, and in binary bosonic or fermionic gases trapped in the optical lattice. Fundamental symbiotic GSs are constructed, and their stability is investigated, in the first two finite bandgaps of the underlying spectrum. Symmetric solitons are destabilized, including their entire family in the second bandgap, by symmetry-breaking perturbations above a critical value of the total power. Asymmetric solitons of intra-gap and inter-gap types are studied too, with the propagation constants of the two components falling into the same or different bandgaps, respectively. The increase of the asymmetry between the components leads to shrinkage of the stability areas of the GSs. Inter-gap GSs are stable only in a strongly asymmetric form, in which the first-bandgap component is a dominating one. Intra-gap solitons are unstable in the second bandgap. Unstable two-component GSs are transformed into persistent breathers. In addition to systematic numerical considerations, analytical results are obtained by means of an extended (tailed) Thomas-Fermi approximation (TFA).
We introduce four basic two-dimensional (2D) plaquette configurations with onsite cubic nonlinearities, which may be used as building blocks for 2D PT -symmetric lattices. For each configuration, we develop a dynamical model and examine its PT symmetry. The corresponding nonlinear modes are analyzed starting from the Hamiltonian limit, with zero value of the gain-loss coefficient. Once the relevant waveforms have been identified (chiefly, in an analytical form), their stability is examined by means of linearization in the vicinity of stationary points. This reveals diverse and, occasionally, fairly complex bifurcations. The evolution of unstable modes is explored by means of direct simulations. In particular, stable localized modes are found in these systems, although the majority of identified solutions is unstable.
We study fundamental optical gap solitons in the model of a fiber Bragg grating (BG), which is subjected to a periodic modulation of the local reflectivity, giving rise to a supergrating. In addition, the local refractive index is also periodically modulated with the same period. It is known that the supergrating opens an infinite system of new bandgaps in the BGs spectrum. We use a combination of analytical and computational methods to show that each emerging bandgap is filled with gap solitons (GSs), including asymmetric ones and bound states of the GSs. In particular, bifurcations of the GSs created by the supergrating are studied in terms of a geometric analysis.
We study large-amplitude one-dimensional solitary waves in photonic crystals featuring competition between linear and nonlinear lattices, with minima of the linear potential coinciding with maxima of the nonlinear pseudopotential, and vice versa (inverted nonlinear photonic crystals, INPhCs), in the case of the saturable self-focusing nonlinearity. Such crystals were recently fabricated using a mixture of SU-8 and Rhodamine-B optical materials. By means of numerical methods and analytical approximations, we find that large-amplitude solitons are broad sharply localized stable pulses (quasi-compactons, QCs). With the increase of the totalpower, P, the QCs centroid performs multiple switchings between minima and maxima of the linear potential. Unlike cubic INPhCs, the large-amplitude solitons are mobile in the medium with the saturable nonlinearity. The threshold value of the kick necessary to set the soliton in motion is found as a function of P. Collisions between moving QCs are considered too.
We investigate 1D and 2D radial domain-wall (DW) states in the system of two nonlinear-Schr{o}dinger/Gross-Pitaevskii equations, which are coupled by the linear mixing and by the nonlinear XPM (cross-phase-modulation). The system has straightforward applications to two-component Bose-Einstein condensates, and to the bimodal light propagation in nonlinear optics. In the former case, the two components represent different hyperfine atomic states, while in the latter setting they correspond to orthogonal polarizations of light. Conditions guaranteeing the stability of flat continuous wave (CW) asymmetric bimodal states are established, followed by the study of families of the corresponding DW patterns. Approximate analytical solutions for the DWs are found near the point of the symmetry-breaking bifurcation of the CW states. An exact DW solution is produced for ratio 3:1 of the XPM and SPM coefficients. The DWs between flat asymmetric states, which are mirror images to each other, are completely stable, and all other species of the DWs, with zero crossings in one or two components, are fully unstable. Interactions between two DWs are considered too, and an effective potential accounting for the attraction between them is derived analytically. Direct simulations demonstrate merger and annihilation of the interacting DWs. The analysis is extended for the system including single- and double-peak external potentials. Generic solutions for trapped DWs are obtained in a numerical form, and their stability is investigated. An exact stable solution is found for the DW trapped by a single-peak potential. In the 2D geometry, stable two-component vortices are found, with topological charges s=1,2,3. Radial oscillations of annular DW-shaped pulsons, with s=0,1,2, are studied too. A linear relation between the period of the oscillations and the mean radius of the DW ring is derived analytically.
