Abstract
Production of stable multidimensional solitary waves is a grand challenge in modern science. Steering their propagation is an even harder problem. Here we demonstrate three-dimensional solitary waves in a nematic, trajectories of which can be steered by the electric field in a plane perpendicular to the field. The steering does not modify the properties of the background that remains uniform. These localized waves, called director bullets, are topologically unprotected multidimensional solitons of (3 + 2)D type that show fore-aft and right-left asymmetry with respect to the background molecular director; the symmetry is controlled by the field. Besides adding a whole dimension to the propagation direction and enabling controlled steering, the solitons can lead to applications such as targeted delivery of information and micro-cargo.
Highlights
Production of stable multidimensional solitary waves is a grand challenge in modern science
Multidimensional solitons are of practical importance[3], for example, in optics, where the socalled “light bullets” of a (3 + 1)D type could serve as information carriers[6]
To the best of our knowledge, there are no other examples of stable and steerable multidimensional solitons that move through a homogeneous background along externally controlled trajectories, neither among the “classic” solitons in conservative systems nor among the localized structures/dissipative solitons in driven dissipative systems
Summary
Production of stable multidimensional solitary waves is a grand challenge in modern science. Dissipative solitons were realized in the form of electric current filaments in a 2D planar gas-discharge system[12] and as (3 + 1)D particle-like electrically powered solitary waves of molecular orientation (specified by the so-called director nb) in a nematic liquid crystal[13] These (3 + 1)D solitons, called “director bullets”, represent spatially-confined perturbations of the director field nbðrÞ that coexist with a uniform director state nb0 1⁄4 const. To the best of our knowledge, there are no other examples of stable and steerable multidimensional solitons that move through a homogeneous background along externally controlled trajectories, neither among the “classic” solitons in conservative systems (such as the Russell’s solitary wave) nor among the localized structures/dissipative solitons in driven dissipative systems
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