Quadratic fractional solitons

Abstract

We introduce a system combining the quadratic self-attractive or composite quadratic-cubic nonlinearity, acting in the combination with the fractional diffraction, which is characterized by its Lévy index α. The model applies to a gas of quantum particles moving by Lévy flights, with the quadratic term representing the Lee-Huang-Yang correction to the mean-field interactions. A family of fundamental solitons is constructed in a numerical form, while the dependence of its norm on the chemical potential characteristic is obtained in an exact analytical form. The family of quasi-Townes solitons, appearing in the limit case of α=1/2, is investigated by means of a variational approximation. A nonlinear lattice, represented by spatially periodical modulation of the quadratic term, is briefly addressed too. The consideration of the interplay of competing quadratic (attractive) and cubic (repulsive) terms with a lattice potential reveals families of single-, double-, and triple-peak gap solitons (GSs) in two finite bandgaps. The competing nonlinearity gives rise to alternating regions of stability and instability of the GS, the stability intervals shrinking with the increase of the number of peaks in the GS.