The flourishing of topological photonics in the last decade was achieved mainly due to developments in linear topological photonic structures. However, when nonlinearity is introduced, many intriguing questions arise. For example, are there universal fingerprints of the underlying topology when modes are coupled by nonlinearity, and what can happen to topological invariants during nonlinear propagation? To explore these questions, we experimentally demonstrate nonlinearity-induced coupling of light into topologically protected edge states using a photonic platform and develop a general theoretical framework for interpreting the mode-coupling dynamics in nonlinear topological systems. Performed on laser-written photonic Su-Schrieffer-Heeger lattices, our experiments show the nonlinear coupling of light into a nontrivial edge or interface defect channel that is otherwise not permissible due to topological protection. Our theory explains all the observations well. Furthermore, we introduce the concepts of inherited and emergent nonlinear topological phenomena as well as a protocol capable of revealing the interplay of nonlinearity and topology. These concepts are applicable to other nonlinear topological systems, both in higher dimensions and beyond our photonic platform.
The asymptotic form of the wave functions describing a freely expanding Lieb-Liniger gas is derived by using a Fermi-Bose transformation for time-dependent states, and the stationary phase approximation. We find that asymptotically the wave functions approach the Tonks-Girardeau (TG) structure as they vanish when any two of the particle coordinates coincide. We point out that the properties of these asymptotic states can significantly differ from the properties of a TG gas in a ground state of an external potential. The dependence of the asymptotic wave function on the initial state is discussed. The analysis encompasses a large class of initial conditions, including the ground states of a Lieb-Liniger gas in physically realistic external potentials. It is also demonstrated that the interaction energy asymptotically decays as a universal power law with time, Eint ∝ t −3 .
We theoretically study discrete photonic lattices in more than three dimensions and point out that such systems can exist in continuous three-dimensional (3D) space. We study discrete diffraction in the linear regime, and predict the existence of four-dimensional (4D) tesseract solitons in nonlinear 4D periodic photonic lattices. Finally, we propose a design towards a potential realization of such periodic 4D lattices in experiments.
Higher-order topological insulators (HOTIs) are recently discovered topological phases, possessing symmetry-protected corner states with fractional charges. An unexpected connection between these states and the seemingly unrelated phenomenon of bound states in the continuum (BICs) was recently unveiled. When nonlinearity is added to the HOTI system, a number of fundamentally important questions arise. For example, how does nonlinearity couple higher-order topological BICs with the rest of the system, including continuum states? In fact, thus far BICs in nonlinear HOTIs have remained unexplored. Here we unveil the interplay of nonlinearity, higher-order topology, and BICs in a photonic platform. We observe topological corner states that are also BICs in a laser-written second-order topological lattice and further demonstrate their nonlinear coupling with edge (but not bulk) modes under the proper action of both self-focusing and defocusing nonlinearities. Theoretically, we calculate the eigenvalue spectrum and analog of the Zak phase in the nonlinear regime, illustrating that a topological BIC can be actively tuned by nonlinearity in such a photonic HOTI. Our studies are applicable to other nonlinear HOTI systems, with promising applications in emerging topology-driven devices.
We numerically study free expansion of a few Lieb-Liniger bosons, which are initially in the ground state of an infinitely deep hard-wall trap. Numerical calculation is carried out by employing a standard Fourier transform, as follows from the Fermi-Bose transformation for a time-dependent Lieb-Liniger gas. We study the evolution of the momentum distribution, the real-space single-particle density, and the occupancies of natural orbitals. Our numerical calculation allows us to explore the behavior of these observables in the transient regime of the expansion, where they are non-trivially affected by the particle interactions. We derive analytically (by using the stationary phase approximation) the formula which connects the asymptotic shape of the momentum distribution and the initial state. For sufficiently large times the momentum distribution coincides (up to a simple scaling transformation) with the shape of the real-space single-particle density (the expansion is asymptotically ballistic). Our analytical and numerical results are in good agreement.Comment: small changes; references correcte
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