Dynamical light control in longitudinally modulated segmented waveguide arrays

We address light propagation in segmented waveguide arrays where the refractive index is longitudinally modulated with an out-of-phase modulation in adjacent waveguides, so that the coupling strength varies along propagation direction. Thus in resonant segments coupling may be inhibited hence light remains localized, while in detuned segments coupling results in complex switching scenarios that may be controlled by stacking several resonant and nonresonant segments. By tuning the modulation frequency and lengths of waveguide segments one may control the distribution of light among the output guides, including loca-lizing all light in the selected output channel.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Europhysics Letter

Resonant mode conversion in the waveguides with an unbroken and broken PT-symmetry

We study resonant mode conversion in the PT-symmetric multimode waveguides, where symmetry breaking manifests itself in sequential destabilization (appearance of the complex eigenvalues) of the pairs of adjacent guided modes. We show that the efficient mode conversion is possible even in the presence of the resonant longitudinal modulation of the complex refractive index. The distinguishing feature of the resonant mode conversion in the PT-symmetric structure is a drastic growth of the width of the resonance curve when the gain/losses coefficient approaches a critical value, at which symmetry breaking occurs. We found that in the system with broken symmetry the resonant coupling between exponentially growing mode with stable higher-order one effectively stabilizes dynamically coupled pair of modes and remarkably diminishes the average rate of the total power growth.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure

Highly-asymmetric soliton complexes in parabolic optical lattices

We introduce multipole soliton complexes in optical lattices induced by nondiffracting parabolic beams. Despite the symmetry-breaking dictated by the curvature of the lattice channels, we find that complex, asymmetric higher-order states can be stable. The unique topology of parabolic lattices affords new types of soliton motion: single solitons launched into the lattice with nonzero transverse momentum perform periodic oscillations along parabolic paths.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Optics Letter

Symmetry breaking and multi-hump solitons in inhomogeneous gain landscapes

We address one-dimensional soliton formation in the cubic nonlinear medium with two-photon absorption and transversally inhomogeneous gain landscape consisting of a single or several amplifying channels. Existence of the solitons requires certain threshold gain while the properties of solitons strongly depend on whether the number of the amplifying channels is odd or even. In the former case an increase of the gain leads to a symmetry breaking, which occurs through the pitchfork bifurcation, and to emergence of a single or several co-existing stable asymmetric modes. In the case of even number of amplifying channels we have found only asymmetric stable states.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Physical Review

Soliton percolation in random optical lattices

We introduce soliton percolation phenomena in the nonlinear transport of light packets in suitable optical lattices with random properties. Specifically, we address lattices with a gradient of the refractive index in the transverse plane, featuring stochastic phase or amplitude fluctuations, and we discover the existence of a disorder-induced transition between soliton-insu-lator and soliton-conductor regimes. The soliton current is found to reach its maximal value at intermediate disorder levels and to drastically decrease in both, almost regular and strongly disordered lattices.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Optics Expres

Bragg-type soliton mirror

We study soliton reflection/transmission at the interface between uniform medium and the optical lattice with focusing Kerr nonlinearity. We reveal that such interfaces afford rich new opportunities for controlling the reflection and transmission coefficients and nonlinear Snell law, the key control parameters being the spatial frequency and depth of the lattice.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Optics Expres

Light beam dynamics in materials with radially-inhomogeneous thermal conductivity

We study the properties of bright and vortex solitons in thermal media with nonuniform thermal conductivity and homogeneous refractive index, whereby the local modulation of the thermal conductivity strongly affects the entire refractive index distribution. While regions where the thermal conductivity is increased effectively expel light, self-trapping may occur in the regions with reduced thermal conductivity, even if such regions are located close to the material boundary. As a result, strongly asymmetric self-trapped beams may form inside a ring with reduced thermal conductivity and perform persistent rotary motion. Also, such rings are shown to support stable vortex solitons, which may feature strongly non-canonical shapes.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Optics Letter

Rotating surface solitons

We introduce a novel type of surface waves that form at the edge of guiding structures consisting of several concentric rings. Such surface waves rotate steadily upon propagation and, in contrast to nonrotating waves, for high rotation frequencies they do not exhibit power thresholds for their existence. There exists an upper limit for the surface wave ro-tation frequency, which depends on the radius of the outer guiding ring and on its depth.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Optics Letter