Anomalous interactions of spatial gap solitons in optically induced photonic lattices

Abstract

We demonstrate coherent interactions between spatial gap solitons in optically induced photonic lattices. Because of the "staggered" phase structures, two in-phase (out-of-phase) bright gap solitons can repel (attract) each other at close proximity, in contrast to soliton interaction in homogeneous media. A reversal of energy transfer direction and a transition between attractive and repulsive interaction forces can be obtained solely by changing the initial soliton separation relative to the lattice spacing.

Observation of spatial optical diametric drive acceleration in photonic lattices

“…In the spatial domain, diffraction can be engineered by using periodically arranged waveguide arrays, allowing coexistence of anomalous and normal diffractions [11]. The interplay of optical states locating in the same region of either type of diffraction has been investigated in a variety of scenarios, always showing the behavior of either attraction or repulsion [12,13]. Nevertheless, to the best of our knowledge, two light beams experiencing different diffraction types (i.e., of opposite mass signs) in such spatial optical structures have not been considered in terms of their interaction and propagation dynamics.…”

Beam steering and topological transformations driven by interactions between a discrete vortex soliton and a discrete fundamental soliton

“…Here, I l0 and d are the peak intensity and period of the lattice, which are chosen as I l0 =1, and d=4 in our numerical simulations. In view of typical experimental conditions [17], here one unit of E 0 corresponds to 1000 V/cm, and x(y)=1 and z=1 correspond to 6.4 µm and 0.88 mm, respectively. …”

“…To study the interaction dynamics, we simulate the mutual propagations of DFS (B 1 ) and DVS (B 2 ) in the photonic lattice according to Eq. ( 1) with the initial probe beams chosen as their exact soliton solutions [17]. Specifically, the total intensities of the probe beams are governed by I p =|B 1 +B 2 exp(iϕ)| 2 and |B 1 | 2 +|B 2 | 2 in the coherent and incoherent interactions, respectively, where ϕ is the initial phase of DFS.…”

“…With a balance of nonlinear trapping and discrete diffraction, an optical beam launched into a single site of a waveguide array can form a discrete fundamental soliton (DFS) [10][11][12][13]. The interactions between DFSs have been demonstrated to perform the blocking, deflecting and routing of optical beams along defined paths in the waveguide-array networks [14][15][16][17]. Optical vortices associated with phase dislocations and topological characters exhibit many interesting features, such as helical phase structure, doughnut intensity profile, and orbital angular momentum (OAM), which promise interesting nonlinear evolution dynamics [18,19] and a wide range of applications [20][21][22].…”

Dynamics of gap solitons in one-dimensional binary lattices with saturable self-defocusing nonlinearity and alternating spacing

“…In that case solitons may attract or repulse depending on whether their envelopes are in phase or out of phase. Furthermore, interesting behavior of anomalous coherent interactions of spatial gap solitons in optically induced photonic lattices has also been demonstrated [31,32]. On the other hand, in the case of incoherent interactions the relative phase change between the beams is much faster than the nonlinear response of the material.…”