Vector mixed-gap surface solitons

We elucidate the properties of mixed-gap vector surface solitons supported by the interface between a uniform medium and an optical lattice imprinted in a Kerr-type nonlinear media. The components of such mixed-gap solitons emerge from different gaps of lattice spectrum and their mutual trapping results in the formation of stable vector states. The unstable soliton component is stabilized by the cross-coupling with the stable component. We show that vector mixed-gap surface solitons exhibit a new combination of properties of vectorial surface waves and gap solitons.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Optics Expres

Nonlinearity-mediated soliton ejection from trapping potentials in nonlocal media

We address the properties of optical solitons in thermal nonlinear media with a local refractive index defect that is capable to trap solitons launched even close to the sample boundary despite the boundary-mediated forces that tend to deflect all beams toward the center of the sample. We show that while such forces become more pronounced with increasing the input beam power the defect can trap only light below a critical power above which solitons are ejected. The dynamics of soliton ejection and the subsequent propagation may be controlled.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Twin-vortex solitons in nonlocal nonlinear media

We consider soliton formation in thermal nonlinear media bounded by rectangular cross-sections and uncover a new class of nonlinear stationary topological state. Specifically, we find that stationary higher-order vortex states in standard shapes do not exist, but rather they take the form of multiple, spatially separated single-charge singularities nested in an elliptical beam. Double-charge states are found to be remarkably robust despite their shape asymmetry and the phase-singularity splitting. States with higher topological charges are found to be unstable.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Optics Letter

Stability of Multipole-mode Solitons in Thermal Nonlinear Media

We study the stability of multipole-mode solitons in one-dimensional thermal nonlinear media. We show how the sample geometry impacts the stability of mutlipole-mode solitons and reveal that the tripole and quadrupole can be made stable in their whole domain of existence, provided that the sample width exceeds a critical value. In spite of such geometry-dependent soliton stability, we find that the maximal number of peaks in stable multipole-mode solitons in thermal media is the same as that in nonlinear materials with finite-range nonlocality.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.