Synthetic magnetism for solitons in optomechanical array

Abstract

Discrete optical and mechanical solitonic waves are widely used for photonic/phononic information processing. Here we propose a synthetic magnetism to generate and to control solitonic waves in 1D−optomechanical array. Each optomechanical cavity in the array couples to its neighbors through photon and phonon coupling. We create the synthetic magnetism by modulating the phonon hopping rate through both the modulation of frequency and phase between resonators at different sites. When the synthetic magnetism effect is not taken into account, the mechanical coupling play a crucial role of controlling and switching the waves from bright to dark solitons, and it even induces rogue wave-like a shape in the array. For enough mechanical coupling strength, the system enters into a strong coupling regime through splitting/crossing of solitonic waves, leading to multiple waves propagation in the array. Under the synthetic magnetism effect, the phase of the modulation enables a good control of the wave propagation, and it also switches soliton shape from bright to dark, and even induces rogue waves as well. Similarly to the mechanical coupling, the synthetic magnetism offers another flexible way to generate plethora of solitonic waves for specific purposes. This work opens new avenues for optomechanical platforms and sheets light on their potentiality of controlling and switching solitonic waves based on synthetic magnetism.