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Recent progress on nonlinear properties of parity-time (PT -) symmetric systems is comprehensively reviewed in this article. PT symmetry started out in non-Hermitian quantum mechanics, where complex potentials obeying PT symmetry could exhibit all-real spectra. This concept later spread out to optics, Bose-Einstein condensates, electronic circuits, and many other physical fields, where a judicious balancing of gain and loss constitutes a PT -symmetric system. The natural inclusion of nonlinearity into these PT systems then gave rise to a wide array of new phenomena which have no counterparts in traditional dissipative systems. Examples include the existence of continuous families of nonlinear modes and integrals of motion, stabilization of nonlinear modes above PTsymmetry phase transition, symmetry breaking of nonlinear modes, distinctive soliton dynamics, and many others. In this article, nonlinear PT -symmetric systems arising from various physical disciplines are presented; nonlinear properties of these systems are thoroughly elucidated; and relevant experimental results are described. In addition, emerging applications of PT symmetry are pointed out.

General high-order rogue waves in the nonlinear Schrödinger equation are derived by the bilinear method. These rogue waves are given in terms of determinants whose matrix elements have simple algebraic expressions. It is shown that the general N -th order rogue waves contain N − 1 free irreducible complex parameters. In addition, the specific rogue waves obtained by Akhmediev et al. (Akhmediev et al. 2009 Phys. Rev. E 80, 026601 (doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.80.026601)) correspond to special choices of these free parameters, and they have the highest peak amplitudes among all rogue waves of the same order. If other values of these free parameters are taken, however, these general rogue waves can exhibit other solution dynamics such as arrays of fundamental rogue waves arising at different times and spatial positions and forming interesting patterns.

Fundamental and vortex solitons in a two-dimensional optically induced waveguide array are reported. In the strong localization regime the fundamental soliton is largely confined to one lattice site, whereas the vortex state comprises four fundamental modes superimposed in a square configuration with a phase structure that is topologically equivalent to the conventional vortex. However, in the weak localization regime, both the fundamental and the vortex solitons spread over many lattice sites. We further show that fundamental and the vortex solitons are stable against small perturbations in the strong localization regime.

Stability of solitons in parity-time (PT)-symmetric periodic potentials (optical lattices) is analyzed in both one-and two-dimensional systems. First we show analytically that when the strength of the gain-loss component in the PT lattice rises above a certain threshold (phase-transition point), an infinite number of linear Bloch bands turn complex simultaneously. Second, we show that while stable families of solitons can exist in PT lattices, increasing the gain-loss component has an overall destabilizing effect on soliton propagation. Specifically, when the gain-loss component increases, the parameter range of stable solitons shrinks as new regions of instability appear. Thirdly, we investigate the nonlinear evolution of unstable PT solitons under perturbations, and show that the energy of perturbed solitons can grow unbounded even though the PT lattice is below the phase transition point.

General rogue waves in the Davey-Stewartson-I equation are derived by the bilinear method. It is shown that the simplest (fundamental) rogue waves are line rogue waves which arise from the constant background with a line profile and then disappear into the constant background again. It is also shown that multirogue waves describe the interaction of several fundamental rogue waves. These multirogue waves also arise from the constant background and then decay back to it, but in the intermediate times, interesting curvy wave patterns appear. However, higher-order rogue waves exhibit different dynamics. Specifically, only part of the wave structure in the higher-order rogue waves rises from the constant background and then retreats back to it, and this transient wave possesses patterns such as parabolas. But the other part of the wave structure comes from the far distance as a localized lump, which decelerates to the near field and interacts with the transient rogue wave, and is then reflected back and accelerates to the large distance again.

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General rogue waves in the Davey-Stewartson-II equation are derived by the bilinear method, and the solutions are given through determinants. It is shown that the simplest (fundamental) rogue waves are line rogue waves which arise from the constant background in a line profile and then retreat back to the constant background again. It is also shown that multi-rogue waves describe the interaction between several fundamental rogue waves, and higher-order rogue waves exhibit different dynamics (such as rising from the constant background but not retreating back to it). A remarkable feature of these rogue waves is that under certain parameter conditions, these rogue waves can blow up to infinity in finite time at isolated spatial points, i.e., exploding rogue waves exist in the Davey-Stewartson-II equation.