Enigmas of optical and matter-wave nonlinear soliton tunneling effects

Abstract

Recent studies have thrown doubt on the ideal treatment of soliton tunneling. The most important enigmas in this field can be formulated in the following way: As to whether nonlinear soliton tunneling effect will resemble more the point like classical particle case or the quantum mechanical behavior in which the particle itself has an internal structure? How hidden degrees of freedom can show up in the process of soliton tunneling? What happens if the amplitude and duration of the input soliton vary in time when the soliton approaches a classically forbidden barrier? In particular, what happens in the case of the nonlinear tunneling of self-compressing soliton when its binding energy is increased? As to whether this case will resemble more the classical particle case or the quantum mechanical behavior? These questions are taken up in this Report.