Three-dimensional Spatiotemporal Solitons Research Articles

Rydberg-Induced Topological Solitons in Three-Dimensional Rotation Spin–Orbit-Coupled Bose–Einstein Condensates

Abstract We introduce a novel approach for generating stable three-dimensional (3D) spatiotemporal solitons (SSs) within a rotating Bose-Einstein Condensates, incorporating Spin-Orbit-Coupling (SOC), a weakly anharmonic potential and cold Rydberg atoms. This intricate system facilitates the emergence of quasi-stable 3D SSs with topological charges |m| ≤ 3 in two spinor components, potentially exhibiting diverse spatial configurations. Our findings reveal that the Rydberg long-range interaction, spin-orbit coupling, and rotational angular frequency exert significant influence on the domains of existence and stability of these solitons. Notably, the Rydberg interaction contributes to a reduction in the norm of topological solitons, while the SOC plays a key role in stabilizing the SSs with finite topological charges. This research of SSs exhibit potential applications in precision measurement, quantum information processing, and other advanced technologies.

Pure quartic three-dimensional spatiotemporal Kerr solitons in graded-index media

Pure quartic three-dimensional spatiotemporal Kerr solitons in graded-index media

Light gap bullets in defocusing media with optical lattices

Searching for three-dimensional spatiotemporal solitons (also known as light/optical bullets) has recently attracted keen theoretical and experimental interests in nonlinear physics. Currently, optical lattices of diverse kinds have been introduced to the stabilization of light bullets, while the investigation for the light bullets of gap type – nonlinear localized modes within the finite gap of the underlying linear Bloch spectrum – is lacking. Herein, we address the formation and stabilization properties of such light gap bullets in periodic media with defocusing nonlinearity, theoretically and in numerical ways. The periodic media are based on two-dimensional periodic standing waves created in a coherent three-level atomic system which is driven to the regime of electromagnetically induced transparency, which in principle can also be replaced by photonic crystals in optics or optical lattices in ground-state ultracold atoms system. The temporal dispersion term is tuned to normal (positive) group velocity dispersion so that to launch the light gap bullets under self-repulsive nonlinearity; two types of such light gap bullets constructed as three-dimensional gap solitons and vortices with topological charge m=1 within the first finite gap are reported and found to be robustly stable in the existence domains. On account of the light bullets were previously limited to the semi-infinite gap of periodic media and continuous nonlinear physical systems, the light gap bullets reported here thus supplement the missing type of three-dimensional spatiotemporal localized modes in periodic media which exhibit finite band gaps.

(Invited) Spatiotemporal soliton stability in multimode fibers: A Hamiltonian approach

We introduce a Hamiltonian approach to study the stability of three-dimensional spatiotemporal solitons in graded-index multimode optical fibers. Nonlinear light bullet propagation in these fibers can be described by means of a Gross–Pitaevskii equation with a two-dimensional parabolic potential. We apply a variational approach, based on the Ritz optimization method, and compare its predictions with extensive numerical simulations. We analytically find that, in fibers with a pure Kerr self-focusing nonlinearity, spatiotemporal solitons are stable for low energies, in perfect agreement with numerical simulations. However, above a certain energy threshold, simulations reveal that the spatiotemporal solitons undergo wave collapse, which is not captured by the variational approach.

Multidimensional optical solitons and their manipulation in a cold atomic gas with a parity-time-symmetric optical Bessel potential

We propose a scheme to realize an optical Bessel potential with parity-time ($\mathcal{P}T$) symmetry and investigate the existence, propagation, and manipulation of multidimensional optical solitons through the interplay among diffraction, Kerr nonlinearity, and potential confinement in a cold atomic gas under the condition of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). We show that the system supports not only two-dimensional stationary optical solitons but also rotary ones; the stability of such solitons can be actively controlled by the gain-loss component (imaginary part), while the rotary motions can be tuned by the refractive-index component (real part) of the $\mathcal{P}T$-symmetric potential. Moreover, we demonstrate that the system allows the existence of stable three-dimensional spatiotemporal optical solitons, i.e., optical bullets, which have ultraslow propagation velocity and display helicoidal motions with controllable propagation trajectories. Due to the Kerr nonlinearity enhanced by the EIT effect, extremely low power is needed to create these multidimensional optical solitons. The results reported here are useful not only for the generation and manipulation of high-dimensional solitons via $\mathcal{P}T$-symmetric potentials, but also for promising applications in optical information processing and transmission.

Accessible solitons in three-dimensional parabolic cylindrical coordinates

A class of self-similar beams, named three-dimensional (3D) spatiotemporal parabolic accessible solitons, are introduced in the 3D highly nonlocal nonlinear media. We obtain exact solutions of the 3D spatiotemporal linear Schrödinger equation in parabolic cylindrical coordinates by using the method of separation of variables. The 3D localized structures are constructed with the help of the confluent hypergeometric Tricomi functions and the Hermite polynomials. Based on such an exact solution, we graphically display three different types of 3D beams: the Gaussian solitons, the ring necklace solitons, and the parabolic solitons, by choosing different mode parameters. We also perform direct numerical simulation to discuss the stability of local solutions. The procedure we follow provides a new method for the manipulation of spatiotemporal solitons.

Dark spatiotemporal optical solitary waves in self-defocusing nonlinear media

Dark three-dimensional spatiotemporal solitons or the “dark light bullets” in the self-defocusing nonlinear media with equal diffraction and dispersion lengths are demonstrated analytically. Our results show that the main characteristic of the dark light bullets can be described by the cylindrical Korteweg–de Vries (CKdV) equation. The dark wave packets are composed of the single-layer and multilayer toroidal rings. For the multilayer rings, there exist small inner rings enclosed in a large ring-shaped toroidal structure, when one chooses different orders of the soliton solutions of the CKdV equation. The radius of dark ring solitons increases with the propagation distance. Present results provide a feasible method for controlling the fundamental structure of these beams in the self-defocusing nonlinear media.

Dissipative laser bullets in dielectric media containing quantum dots

The formation of three-dimensional spatiotemporal dissipative solitons (laser bullets) in a dense ensemble of two-level quantum dots imbedded into a dielectric host is analyzed theoretically taking into account complex local field corrections. The possibility of satisfying stability conditions for laser bullets in a wide range of concentration and quantum dot size parameters is demonstrated. Substantial increase in dimensions of the found areas of stability when choosing all-dielectric metamaterials as a host medium is revealed.

Dissipative Laser Bullets in a Dielectric Metamaterial with Quantum Dots

We consider the problem of formation of three-dimensional spatio-temporal dissipative solitons (laser bullets) in a dense ensemble of two-level quantum dots. The principal possibility of laser bullets generation due to the strong influence of local-field effects on propagation of optical pulses in all-dielectric metamaterials with quantum dots is predicted.

Three-Dimensional Dissipative Optical Solitons in a Dielectric Medium with Quantum Dots

We consider the problem of formation of three-dimensional spatio-temporal dissipative solitons (laser bullets) in a dense ensemble of two-level quantum dots. The principal possibility of effective laser bullets generation in an all-dielectric metamaterials with quantum dots is shown. The phenomenon arises due to the simultaneous appearance of strong local field effects and significant corrections to diffraction effects during the propagation of short optical pulses in such medium.

Self-phase modulation spectral broadening in two-dimensional spatial solitons: toward three-dimensional spatiotemporal pulse-train solitons

We demonstrate self-phase modulation (SPM) spectral broadening in two-dimensional solitons in homogeneous media using two different schemes. In the active mode, a train of pulses are collectively trapped and form a spatial soliton through a photorefractive, slowly responding, and electronically controlled self-focusing nonlinearity, and each pulse experiences spectral broadening by the fast SPM nonlinearity. In the passive mode, the pulse-train beam is guided in a waveguide that is optically induced by a continuous-wave thermal spatial soliton. The soliton formation increased the normalized spectral broadening factor from 0.5% up to 197%. This experiment presents significant progress toward the experimental demonstration of three-dimensional spatiotemporal pulse-train solitons.

Stable weak-light ultraslow spatiotemporal solitons via atomic coherence

We propose a scheme to generate stable ultraslow three-dimensional spatiotemporal optical solitons, or ultraslow optical bullets, at very low light levels via atomic coherence. The system we consider is an ensemble of resonant, lifetime-broadened N-type four-level atoms, working in a regime of electromagnetically induced transparency. Due to the quantum interference effect induced by a control field, the absorption of a probe field is largely suppressed. Moreover, the Kerr nonlinearity is greatly enhanced, and the dispersion property of the probe field is drastically changed. Using a method of multiple scales, we derive two coupled nonlinear envelope equations controlling the evolution of the envelopes of the probe field and an assisted field. We show that under certainconditionstheenvelopeoftheprobefieldsatisfiesathree-dimensionalnonlinearSchr¨ odingerequationand the envelope of the assisted field obeys a linear Helmholtz equation. We obtain various optical bullet solutions for the probe-field envelope and demonstrate that such optical bullets have many novel features, including very slow propagating velocity and very low generation power. In addition, they can be actively controlled and manipulated by adjusting system parameters. The stabilization of the optical bullets obtained can be easily realized by the trapping potential contributed by the assisted field, which is also investigated in detail.

THREE-DIMENSIONAL LIGHT BULLETS IN CUBIC–QUINTIC MEDIA STABILIZED BY PERIODIC VARIATION OF DIFFRACTION AND DISPERSION

We propose a dispersion-managed model with diffraction management for the stabilization of three-dimensional spatiotemporal solitons in bulk cubic–quintic media. The cubic–quintic nonlinear Schrödinger equation with periodically varying dispersion and diffraction has been studied using analytical and numerical methods. Variational analysis and the Kapitsa averaging method have been used to study the system analytically. The study has shown that periodically varying coefficients of diffraction and dispersion stabilizes the spatiotemporal solitons in cubic–quintic media.

Stable three-dimensional optical solitons supported by competing quadratic and self-focusing cubic nonlinearities

We show that the quadratic (chi(2)) interaction of fundamental and second harmonics in a bulk dispersive medium, combined with self-focusing cubic (chi(3)) nonlinearity, give rise to stable three-dimensional spatiotemporal solitons (STSs), despite the possibility of the supercritical collapse, induced by the chi(3) nonlinearity. At exact phase matching (beta = 0) , the STSs are stable for energies from zero up to a certain maximum value, while for beta not equal 0 the solitons are stable in energy intervals between finite limits.

Three-dimensional spatiotemporal optical solitons in nonlocal nonlinear media

We demonstrate the existence of stable three-dimensional spatiotemporal solitons (STSs) in media with a nonlocal cubic nonlinearity. Fundamental (nonspinning) STSs forming one-parameter families are stable if their propagation constant exceeds a certain critical value that is inversely proportional to the range of nonlocality of nonlinear response. All spinning three-dimensional STSs are found to be unstable.

Stabilization of three-dimensional light bullets by a transverse lattice in a Kerr medium with dispersion management

We demonstrate a possibility to stabilize three-dimensional spatiotemporal solitons (“light bullets”) in self-focusing Kerr media by means of a combination of dispersion management in the longitudinal direction (with the group-velocity dispersion alternating between positive and negative values) and periodic modulation of the refractive index in one transverse direction (out of the two). Assuming the usual model based on the paraxial nonlinear Schrödinger equation for the local amplitude of the electromagnetic field, the analysis relies upon the variational approximation (results of direct three-dimensional simulations will be reported in a follow-up). A predicted stability area is identified in the model’s parameter space. It features a minimum of the necessary strength of the transverse modulation of the refractive index, and finite minimum and maximum values of the soliton’s energy. The former feature is also explained analytically.

Efficient Numerical Continuation and Stability Analysis of Spatiotemporal Quadratic Optical Solitons

A numerical method is set out which efficiently computes stationary (z-independent) two- and three-dimensional spatiotemporal solitons in second-harmonic-generating media. The method relies on a Chebyshev decomposition with an infinite mapping, bunching the collocation points near the soliton core. Known results for the type-I interaction are extended and a stability boundary is found by two-parameter continuation as defined by the Vakhitov--Kolokolov criteria. The validity of this criterion is demonstrated in (2+1) dimensions by simulation and direct calculation of the linear spectrum. The method has wider applicability for general soliton-bearing equations in (2+1) and (3+1) dimensions.

Stable three-dimensional spatiotemporal solitons in a two-dimensional photonic lattice

We investigate the existence and stability of three-dimensional spatiotemporal solitons in self-focusing cubic Kerr-type optical media with an imprinted two-dimensional harmonic transverse modulation of the refractive index. We demonstrate that two-dimensional photonic Kerr-type nonlinear lattices can support stable one-parameter families of three-dimensional spatiotemporal solitons provided that their energy is within a certain interval and the strength of the lattice potential, which is proportional to the refractive index modulation depth, is above a certain threshold value.

Light bullets in quadratic media with normal dispersion at the second harmonic.

Stable two- and three-dimensional spatiotemporal solitons (STSs) in second-harmonic-generating media are found in the case of normal dispersion at the second-harmonic (SH). This result, surprising from the theoretical viewpoint, opens the way for experimental realization of STSs. An analytical estimate for the existence of STSs is derived, and full results, including a complete stability diagram, are obtained in numerical form. STSs withstand not only the normal SH dispersion, but also finite walk-off between the harmonics, and readily self-trap from a Gaussian pulse launched at the fundamental frequency.

Three-dimensional walking spatiotemporal solitons in quadratic media

Two-parameter families of chirped stationary three-dimensional spatiotemporal solitons in dispersive quadratically nonlinear optical media featuring type-I second-harmonic generation are constructed in the presence of temporal walk-off. Basic features of these walking spatiotemporal solitons, including their dynamical stability, are investigated in the general case of unequal group-velocity dispersions at the fundamental and second-harmonic frequencies. In the cases when the solitons are unstable, the growth rate of a dominant perturbation eigenmode is found as a function of the soliton wave number shift. The findings are in full agreement with the stability predictions made on the basis of a marginal linear-stability curve. It is found that the walking three-dimensional spatiotemporal solitons are dynamically stable in most cases; hence in principle they may be experimentally generated in quadratically nonlinear media.