Multidimensional Solitons: Theory

Joachim Brand, Lincoln D. Carr, Brian P. Anderson

Boris A. Malomed

A briefly formulated update of the recently published review [B.A. Malomed, Multidimensional soliton systems. Adv. Phys. 9(1) (2024), pp. 2301592] on the topic of multidimensional solitons (chiefly, in nonlinear optics and atomic Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs)) is presented. The update briefly summarizes some notable results on this topic that have been reported very recently, and offers a compact outline of the directions of the current experiment and theoretical work in this and related fields. In particular, as concerns newest experimental findings, included are the creation of multiple quantum droplets in prolate BEC, and the observation of expanding toroidal light structures in linear optics. The update of theoretical results includes the analysis of 2D solitons in the optical system with the quadratic nonlinearity and fractional diffraction, and the prediction of stable 3D vortex solitons in various BEC schemes with long-range interactions.

Karen V. Kheruntsyan, P. D. Drummond

We consider the parametric quantum field theory involving cubic and quartic couplings of two bosonic fields. This is exactly soluble for the two-particle energy eigenstates (or quantum solitons) in one, two, and three space dimensions. We estimate the binding energies and corresponding radii in the case of photonic fields in nonlinear optical materials, and Bose-Einstein condensates.

Demetrios N. Christodoulides

Lujia Jin, Chao Hang, Guoxiang Huang

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.

Carlo F. Barenghi, Nick G. Parker