15 research outputs found
Observation of 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 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 modes
residing at the edge or in the corner of the one- or two-dimensional arrays,
respectively, and demonstrate a new class of topological solitons
bifurcating from such modes in the topological gap of the Floquet spectrum at
high powers. 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 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 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 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
Generalized quantum measurements. Part I: Information properties of soft quantum measurements
A special class of soft quantum measurements as a physical model of the fuzzy
measurements widely used in physics is introduced and its information
properties are studied in detail.Comment: 25 pages, 3 figures, 25 ref