Weakly nonlinear topological gap solitons in Su–Schrieffer–Heeger photonic lattices

Abstract

We study both theoretically and experimentally the effect of nonlinearity on topologically protected linear interface modes in a photonic Su–Schrieffer–Heeger (SSH) lattice. It is shown that under either focusing or defocusing nonlinearity, this linear topological mode of the SSH lattice turns into a family of topological gap solitons. These solitons are stable. However, they exhibit only a low amplitude and power and are thus weakly nonlinear, even when the bandgap of the SSH lattice is wide. As a consequence, if the initial beam has modest or high power, it will either delocalize, or evolve into a soliton not belonging to the family of topological gap solitons. These theoretical predictions are observed in our experiments with optically induced SSH-type photorefractive lattices.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Nov 24, 2020
Source ID
10.1364/ol.411102

Entities

People

  • Daohong Song
  • Jianke Yang
  • Min Guo
  • Nan Wang
  • Shiqi Xia
  • Zhigang Chen

Organizations

  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China
  • National Science Foundation

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Optical Physics and Photonics.
  • Quantum spin resonance or Electron Paramagnetic Resonance spectroscopy.
  • Wave Propagation and Nonlinear Chaotic Dynamics.