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

Abstract

Abstract:We study coherent and incoherent interactions between discrete vortex and fundamental solitons in two-dimensional photonic lattices, presenting a new scheme for all-optical routings and topological transformations of vorticities. Due to the multi-lobe intensity and step-phase structure of the discrete vortex soliton, the coherent soliton-interactions allow both solitons to be steered into multiple different possible destination ports depending on the initial phase of the discrete fundamental soliton. We show that charge-flipping of phase singularities and orbital angular momentum transfer can occur during the coherent interactions between the two solitons. For incoherent interactions, by controlling the relative intensities of the two solitons, we reveal that soliton-steering can be realized by either attracting the discrete fundamental soliton to four ports or localizing the four-lobe discrete vortex soliton into a ring soliton.

Three-dimensional solitary waves with electrically tunable direction of propagation in nematics

“…14 is arbitrary (defined by the initial condition used in simulations): a preferred direction does not exist since the system is isotropic 14 . To control trajectories of solitons and to produce trajectories different from rectilinear or Brownian-type, one could use interactions of solitons with other waves 4 , with each other 15 , or by designing a spatially varying medium. One example are nematicons, self-focused light beams propagating in a nematic: 3,5 these can be bent by a spatially varying director 16 .…”

“…In a uniform medium, solitons propagate along rectilinear trajectories. To curve these trajectories, one could use interactions of solitons with other waves 5 , with each other 7 , or by designing a spatially-varying medium. One example are nematicons, (2+1)D light beams propagating in a nematic 1,4 .…”

Arbitrary and reconfigurable optical vortex generation: a high-efficiency technique using director-varying liquid crystal fork gratings

“…(2) The introduction of the PB phase renders the element highly efficient. Moreover, as the director variation is controlled by incident polarization, no electrodes or other absorptive materials are required, endowing the elements with great potentials in intense-light or ultrashort-pulse manipulations and nonlinear processes [41,42]. 3Thanks to the electro-optical tunability of the LCs, dynamic switching (1.5% to 98.5%) between Gaussian beams (zeroth order) and OVs (1st orders) could be accomplished.…”

Quadrupolar matter-wave soliton in two-dimensional free space

“…The first involves the introduction of a periodical potential through structures such as 2D waveguide arrays or optical lattices [23,24]. The periodical potential introduces new features, such as lattice solitons [26][27][28], lattice gap solitons [29], and lattice vortex solitons [30,24,31]. However, it also breaks the translation symmetry and rotational symmetry of the system, limiting the mobility of the solitons.…”