Observation of edge solitons in topological trimer arrays

We report the experimental observation of nonlinear light localization and edge soliton formation at the edges of fs-laser written trimer waveguide arrays, where transition from nontopological to topological phases is controlled by the spacing between neighboring trimers. We found that, in the former regime, edge solitons occur only above a considerable power threshold, whereas in the latter one they bifurcate from linear states. Edge solitons are observed in a broad power range where their propagation constant falls into one of the topological gaps of the system, while partial delocalization is observed when considerable nonlinearity drives the propagation constant into an allowed band, causing coupling with bulk modes. Our results provide direct experimental evidence of the coexistence and selective excitation in the same or in different topological gaps of two types of topological edge solitons with different internal structures, which can rarely be observed even in nontopological systems. This also constitutes the first experimental evidence of formation of topological solitons in a nonlinear system with more than one topological gap.The authors acknowledge funding of this study by RSF (grant 21‐12‐00096). Also, support by CEX2019‐000910‐S [funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033], Fundació Cellex, Fundació Mir‐Puig, and Generalitat de Catalunya (CERCA) is acknowledged.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Observation of π\pi solitons in oscillating waveguide arrays

Floquet systems with periodically varying in time parameters enable realization of unconventional topological phases that do not exist in static systems with constant parameters and that are frequently accompanied by appearance of novel types of the topological states. Among such Floquet systems are the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger lattices with periodically-modulated couplings that can support at their edges anomalous $\pi$ modes of topological origin despite the fact that the lattice spends only half of the evolution period in topologically nontrivial phase, while during other half-period it is topologically trivial. Here, using Su-Schrieffer-Heeger arrays composed from periodically oscillating waveguides inscribed in transparent nonlinear optical medium, we report experimental observation of photonic anomalous $\pi$ modes residing at the edge or in the corner of the one- or two-dimensional arrays, respectively, and demonstrate a new class of topological $\pi$ solitons bifurcating from such modes in the topological gap of the Floquet spectrum at high powers. $\pi$ solitons reported here are strongly oscillating nonlinear Floquet states exactly reproducing their profiles after each longitudinal period of the structure. They can be dynamically stable in both one- and two-dimensional oscillating waveguide arrays, the latter ones representing the first realization of the Floquet photonic higher-order topological insulator, while localization properties of such $\pi$ solitons are determined by their power.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Science Bulleti

Observation of nonlinear fractal higher-order topological insulator

Higher-order topological insulators (HOTIs) are unique materials hosting topologically protected states, whose dimensionality is at least by a factor of 2 lower than that of the bulk. Topological states in such insulators may be strongly confined in their corners that leads to considerable enhancement of nonlinear processes involving such states. However, all nonlinear HOTIs demonstrated so far were built on periodic bulk lattice materials. Here we demonstrate first \textit{nonlinear photonic} HOTI with the fractal origin. Despite their fractional effective dimensionality, the HOTIs constructed here on two different types of the Sierpi\'nski gasket waveguide arrays, may support topological corner states for unexpectedly wide range of coupling strengths, even in parameter regions where conventional HOTIs become trivial. We demonstrate thresholdless solitons bifurcating from corner states in nonlinear fractal HOTIs and show that their localization can be efficiently controlled by the input beam power. We observe sharp differences in nonlinear light localization on outer and multiple inner corners and edges representative for these fractal materials. Our findings not only represent a new paradigm for nonlinear topological insulators, but also open new avenues for potential applications of fractal materials to control the light flow.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

Observation of linear and nonlinear light localization at the edges of moiré arrays

We observe linear and nonlinear light localization at the edges and in the corners of truncated moiré arrays created by the superposition of periodic mutually twisted at Pythagorean angles square sublattices. Experimentally exciting corner linear modes in the femtosecond-laser written moiré arrays we find drastic differences in their localization properties in comparison with the bulk excitations. We also address the impact of nonlinearity on the corner and bulk modes and experimentally observe the crossover from linear quasilocalized states to the surface solitons emerging at the higher input powers. Our results constitute the first experimental demonstration of localization phenomena induced by truncation of periodic moiré structures in photonic systems.This research is funded by the research Project No. FFUU- 2021-0003 of the Institute of Spectroscopy of the Russian Academy of Sciences and partially funded by the RSF Grant No. 21-12-00096. F. Y. acknowledges support from Shanghai Outstanding Academic Leaders Plan (Grant No. 20XD1402000) and the NSFC (Grant No. 91950120). S. K. I. and L. T. acknowledge support by Grants No. CEX2019-000910-S and No. PGC2018-097035-B-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/FEDER, Fundació Cellex, Fundació Mir-Puig, and Generalitat de Catalunya (CERCA).Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Effect of intense chirped pulses on the coherent phonon generation in Te

The authors have studied the influence of chirped laser pulses on the coherent phonon generation in single crystal Te. They have shown that the pulse chirp affects the amplitude of coherent phonons with A1 symmetry in the case of intense excitation only. By varying the chirp of an intense exciting pulse, the authors demonstrated that negatively chirped pulses are almost twice more effective in the creation of lattice coherence than positively chirped pulses

Intra-cluster dynamics induced in molecular clusters by femtosecond UV radiation

Dynamics of intra-cluster processes induced by femtosecond UV laser radiation in molecular clusters of CF3I and ICF2COF molecules is studied. The measured time constants of the observed reactions are within the range from 1 ps to dozens of picoseconds

Intra-cluster dynamics induced in molecular clusters by femtosecond UV radiation

Dynamics of intra-cluster processes induced by femtosecond UV laser radiation in molecular clusters of CF3I and ICF2COF molecules is studied. The measured time constants of the observed reactions are within the range from 1 ps to dozens of picoseconds

Effect of phase modulation of a laser pulse on the generation of a coherent totally symmetric phonon in a tellurium single crystal

The effect of phase modulation (resulting in a chirp of an ultrashort laser pulse) on the generation of a coherent A1 phonon in Te was studied. The amplitude of coherent oscillations was found to depend on the sign and value of the pulse chirp: the oscillation amplitude decreases as the chirp increases. For a positive chirp, this effect is twofold stronger than for a negative one. The frequency-resolved response of a bandwidth-limited pulse was studied, which revealed the difference of oscillations and the relaxation response for the Stokes and anti-Stokes frequencies. The detected phenomena can be used for coherent control of lattice dynamics

Observation of rotation-induced light localization in waveguide arrays

We study both, experimentally and theoretically, propagation of light in the fs-laser written rotating square waveguide arrays and present the first experimental evidence of light localization induced by the rotation of periodic structure in the direction of light propagation. Such linear light localization occurs either in the corners of truncated square array, where it results from the interplay between the centrifugal effect and total internal reflection at the borders of truncated array, or in the center of array, where rotation creates effective attractive optical potential. The degree of localization of linear bulk and corner modes emerging due to the rotation increases with the increase of rotation frequency. Consequently, corner and bulk solitons in rotating wave-guide arrays become thresholdless for sufficiently large rotation frequencies, in contrast to solitons in non-rotating arrays that exist only above power threshold. Focusing nonlinearity enhances localization degree of corner modes, but surprising initially it leads to broadening of bulk nonlinear states, followed by their re-localization at high input powers. Our results open new prospects for control of evolution of nonlinear multidimensional excitations by dynamically varying potentials.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, to be appear on ACS Photonic

Split Hole Resonator: A Nanoscale UV Light Source

Because of strong light absorption by metals, it is believed that plasmonic nanostructures cannot be used for generating intensive radiation harmonics in the ultraviolet (UV) spectral range. This work presents results of investigation of nonlinear optical interaction with a single gold nanostructure, the split-hole resonator (SHR) under the state-of-the-art experimentally realized conditions. To realize interaction with all spectral components of a 6 fs laser pulse several multipole plasmon resonances were simultaneously excited in the SHR nanostructure. To the best of our knowledge, this paper reports for the first time a strong nonlinear optical interaction at the frequencies of these resonances that leads to (i) the second harmonic generation, (ii) the third harmonic generation (THG), and (iii) the light generation at mixed frequencies. The THG near field amplitude reaches 0.6% of the fundamental frequency field amplitude, which enables the creation of UV radiation sources with a record high intensity. The UV THG may find many important applications including biomedical ones (such as cancer therapy)