Search

We report on the topological pumping of quadratic optical solitons, observed through their quantized transport in a dynamic optical potential. A distinctive feature of this system is that the two fields with different frequencies, which together form the quadratic soliton, evolve in separate yet topologically equivalent dynamic optical potentials. Pumping in this system exhibits several notable differences from pumping in cubic media. While Chern indices characterizing quantized transport for uncoupled fundamental and second harmonic waves are nonzero, small-amplitude solitons with narrow spectra do not move, thus revealing a non-topological phase. As the nonlinearity increases, the system undergoes a sharp transition, depending on the velocity of one of the sublattices forming dynamical potential, into the phase where the quantized transport of quadratic solitons governed by nonzero Chern numbers is observed. The power level at which this transition occurs increases with increase of pumping velocity, and the transition is observed even in the regime when the adiabatic approximation no longer applies. Unlike in cubic media, in a quadratic medium neither breakup of topological pumping nor fractional pumping at high power levels are observed., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Physical Review Letters

Quasicrystals are ubiquitous in nature. Beyond crystalline solids, they can be created as optically induced or technologically fabricated structures in photonic and phononic systems, as potentials for cold atoms and Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs). On a parwith the unusual structural properties of quasicrystals, nowadays the problem of wave propagation in such two-dimensional structures attracts considerable attention, already in earlier studies it was predicted that the lowest electronic states in five-fold quasicrystals are localized. Later on localization of BECs in an eight-fold rotational symmetric quasicrystal optical lattices was observed. Direct observation of localization in purely linear photonic quasicrystals, therefore, remains elusive. Here, using sets of interfering plane waves, we create photonic two-dimensional quasicrystals with different rotational symmetries, not allowed in periodic crystallographic structures. We demonstrate experimentally that linear localization of light does occur even in clean linear quasicrystals for probe beams propagating both in the center and off-center regions of the quasicrystals. We found that light localization occurs above a critical depth of optically induced potential and that this critical depth rapidly decreases with the increase of the order of the discrete rotational symmetry of the quasicrystal. Our results clarify a long-standing problem of wave localization in linear quasicrystals and elucidate the conditions under which this phenomenon occurs. These findings pave the way for achieving wave localization in a wide variety of aperiodic systems obeying discrete symmetries, with possible applications in photonics, atomic physics, acoustics, and condensed matter., Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures

Topological transport is determined by global properties of physical media where it occurs and is characterized by quantized amounts of adiabatically transported quantities. Discovered for periodic potentials it was also explored in disordered and discrete quasi-periodic systems. Here we report on experimental observation of pumping of a light beam in a genuinely continuous incommensurate photorefractive quasi-crystal emulated by its periodic approximants. We observe a universal character of the transport which is determined by the ratio between periods of the constitutive sublattices, by the sliding angle between them, and by Chern numbers of the excited bands (in the time-coordinate space) of the approximant, for which pumping is adiabatic. This reveals that the properties of quasi-periodic systems determining the topological transport are tightly related to those of their periodic approximants and can be observed and studied in a large variety of physical systems. Our results suggest that the links between quasi periodic systems and their periodic approximants go beyond the pure mathematical relations: they manifest themselves in physical phenomena which can be explored experimentally.

We predict the existence of double-flattop quantum droplets in atomic Bose-Bose mixtures. Solutions of this type have two flattop regions of nearly uniform atomic density corresponding to a compressed central core surrounded by a rarefied layer. The birth of these double-flattop quantum droplets is analytically described using a perturbation theory, which in the leading order reduces the problem to the cubic nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation. Its properties are then used to predict the shape of double-flattop solutions and draw the conclusions about their stability. The analytical results apply to one- and multidimensional quantum droplets, provided that the energy density satisfies certain conditions. Using the numerical continuation from the asymptotic limit, we obtain the families of one- and two-dimensional double flattop quantum droplets and confirm the stability of the nodeless states of this type., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures; accepted for Chaos, Solitons & Fractals

We discover a novel class of dissipative light bullets whose spatial profiles may be drastically reshaped along the bulk, edges and corners of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger lattice owing to the dissipative and topological nature of the system. These light bullets appear due to resonances with different modes in lattice spectrum and may have very rich shapes that can be adiabatically controlled by varying the frequency of the external laser source. We report on robust stationary bullets and breathers which are understood from the corresponding bifurcation analysis. Our results provide a new route to realisation of reconfigurable and robust 3D light forms in topologically nontrivial systems., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, comments welcome

Aperiodic crystals are the intermediates between strictly periodic crystalline matter and amorphous solids. The lack of translational symmetry combined with intrinsic long-range order endows aperiodic crystals with unique physical characteristics, while at the same time dramatically enriching the spectrum and localization properties. Here, we demonstrate exciton-polariton condensation in a two-dimensional Penrose tiling with $C_{10}$ rotational symmetry - the first signature of quasicrystalline order in a quantum fluid of light. We identify a regime, wherein near-perfect delocalization and synchronization of a quantum fluid of light occurs at mesoscopic length-scales extending beyond 100x the healing length and the size of each individual condensate. Realizing long-range order in fully reconfigurable aperiodic crystals of nonlinear, and open-dissipative quantum fluids, lays the foundations for testing a broad range of universality classes of continuous phase transitions beyond the limits of mathematically verifiable models in regular lattices.

The current state of research on vortices carried by quantum droplets (QDs) has predicted their existence, in the stable form, in two- and three-dimensional free-space binary Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) and dipolar BECs. These theoretical results suggest that QDs may be excellent carriers of self-trapped vortex states. Given that the experimental creation of QDs has already been firmly established, the observation of embedded vortices in them becomes a key question for the next phase of the development in the field., Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, and 88 references. Accepted as the View & Perspective by Frontiers of Physics (http://journal.hep.com.cn/fop/EN/10.15302/frontphys.2025.013401)

We study quantum droplets emerging in a quasi-one-dimensional asymmetric mixture of two atomic species with different intra-component coupling constants. We find that such mixtures support a rich variety of multipole quantum droplets, where the macroscopic wavefunction of one component changes its sign and features distinctive multipole structure, while the wavefunction of another component does not have zeros. Such multipole droplets have no counterparts in the reduced single-component model frequently used to describe symmetric one-dimensional mixtures. We study transformations of multipole states upon variation of the chemical potential of each component and demonstrate that quantum droplets can split into separated fundamental states, transform into flat-top multipoles, or into multipole component coupled to flat-top state with several humps on it, akin to anti-dark solitons. Multipole quantum droplets described here are stable in large part of their existence domain. Our findings essentially broaden the family of quantum droplet states emerging in the beyond-meanfield regime and open the way for observation of such heterostructured states in Bose-Bose mixtures., Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures; accepted for Physical Review A as a Letter

$\pi$ modes are unique topological edge states appearing in Floquet systems with periodic modulations of the underlying lattice structure in evolution variable, such as dynamically modulated Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) lattices. These edge states are anomalous states usually appearing between Floquet replicas of the same band, even if standard topological index remains zero for this band. While linear and nonlinear $\pi$ modes were observed in conservative systems, they have never been studied in nonlinear regime in the non-Hermitian systems with structured gain and losses. Here we show that SSH waveguide array with periodically oscillating waveguide positions in propagation direction and with parity-time symmetric refractive index landscape, can support $\pi$ modes that are damped or amplified at different ends of the array. By including nonlinearity and nonlinear absorption into our continuous system, we achieve stable lasing in $\pi$ mode at one end of the array. The representative feature of this system is that lasing in it is thresholdless and it occurs even at low gain-loss amplitudes. The degree of localization of lasing $\pi$ modes can be flexibly controlled by the amplitude of transverse waveguide oscillations. This work therefore introduces a new type of topological Floquet laser and a route to manipulation of $\pi$ modes by structured gain and losses., Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, to appear in APL Photonics

Flat-band periodic materials are characterized by a linear spectrum containing at least one band where the propagation constant remains nearly constant irrespective of the Bloch momentum across the Brillouin zone. These materials provide a unique platform for investigating phenomena related to light localization. Meantime, the interaction between flat-band physics and nonlinearity in continuous systems remains largely unexplored, particularly in continuous systems where the band flatness deviates slightly from zero, in contrast to simplified discrete systems with exactly flat bands. Here, we use a continuous superhoneycomb lattice featuring a flat band in its spectrum to theoretically and numerically introduce a range of stable flatband solitons. These solutions encompass fundamental, dipole, multi-peak, and even vortex solitons. Numerical analysis demonstrates that these solitons are stable in a broad range of powers. They do not bifurcate from the flat band and can be analyzed using Wannier function expansion leading to their designation as Wannier solitons. These solitons showcase novel possibilities for light localization and transmission within nonlinear flat-band systems., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Nanophotonics. Comments are welcome

We introduce traveling Floquet valley Hall edge solitons in a genuinely continuous system consisting of a waveguide array with a dynamically varying domain wall between two honeycomb structures exhibiting broken inversion symmetry. Inversion symmetry in our system is broken due to periodic and out-of-phase longitudinal modulation of the refractive index applied to the constituent sublattices of the honeycomb structure. By combining two honeycomb arrays with different initial phases of refractive index modulation we create a dynamically changing domain wall that supports localized linear Floquet edge states despite the fact that on average two sublattices in each honeycomb structure forming the domain wall have the same refractive index. In the presence of focusing nonlinearity, bright or dark Floquet edge solitons may bifurcate from such linear Floquet edge states. We numerically identified a family of these solitons and compared them with the results obtained from the analytical approach, which involved averaging over one longitudinal period in the evolution coordinate. These solitons exhibit localization in both spatial directions - along the interface due to nonlinear self-action and across the interface as the edge states - that allows them to travel along the domain wall over long distances without noticeable shape variations.

Topological insulators are most frequently constructed using lattices with specific degeneracies in their linear spectra, such as Dirac points. For a broad class of lattices, such as honeycomb ones, these points and associated Dirac cones generally appear in non-equivalent pairs. Simultaneous breakup of the time-reversal and inversion symmetry in systems based on such lattices may result in the formation of the unpaired Dirac cones in bulk spectrum, but the existence of topologically protected edge states in such structures remains an open problem. Here photonic Floquet insulator on honeycomb lattice with unpaired Dirac cones in its spectrum is introduced that can support unidirectional edge states appearing at the edge between two regions with opposite sublattice detuning. Topological properties of this system are characterized by the nonzero valley Chern number. Remarkably, edge states in this system can circumvent sharp corners without inter-valley scattering even though there is no total forbidden gap in the spectrum. Our results reveal unusual interplay between two different physical mechanisms of creation of topological edge states based on simultaneous breakup of different symmetries of the system., Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures. To appear in Photonics Research. Comments are welcome

We show that higher-order topological insulators can be created from usual square structure by twisting waveguides in each unit cell around the axis passing through the center of the unit cell, even without changing intracell distance between waveguides. When applied to usual square array, this approach produces two-dimensional generalization of Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) structure supporting topological corner modes with propagation constants belonging to two forbidden spectral gaps opening only for twist angles from certain interval. In contrast to usual SSH arrays, where higher-order topology is typically introduced by diagonal waveguide shifts and only one type of corner states exists, our SSH-like structure in topological phase supports two co-existing types of in-phase and out-of-phase corner modes appearing in two different topological gaps that open in the spectrum. Therefore, twisting of the unit cell qualitatively changes topological properties of the system, offering a new degree of freedom in creation of higher-order topological phases. In material with focusing cubic nonlinearity two coexisting types of topological corner solitons emerge from these modes, whose existence and stability properties are studied here. Despite different internal structure, both such modes can be simultaneously dynamically stable in the appreciable part of the topological gap., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Chaos, Solitons and Fractals

We investigate the formation of multipole topological solitons at the edges of two and three coupled parallel Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) waveguide arrays. We show that independent variations of waveguide spacing in the unit cells (dimers) in coupled waveguide arrays result in the emergence at their edges of several topological edge states with different internal symmetry. The number of emerging edge states is determined by how many arrays are in topologically nontrivial phase. In the presence of nonlinearity, such edge states give rise to families of multipole topological edge solitons with distinct stability properties. Our results illustrate that coupling between quasi-one-dimensional topological structures substantially enriches the variety of stable topological edge solitons existing in them., Comment: To appear in Optics Letters

We propose a simple dissipative system with purely cubic defocusing nonlinearity and nonuniform linear gain that can support stable localized dissipative vortex solitons with high topological charges without the utilization of competing nonlinearities and nonlinear gain or losses. Localization of such solitons is achieved due to an intriguing mechanism when defocusing nonlinearity stimulates energy flow from the ring-like region with linear gain to the periphery of the medium where energy is absorbed due to linear background losses. Vortex solitons bifurcate from linear gain-guided vortical modes with eigenvalues depending on topological charges that become purely real only at specific gain amplitudes. Increasing gain amplitude leads to transverse expansion of vortex solitons, but simultaneously it usually also leads to stability enhancement. Increasing background losses allows creation of stable vortex solitons with high topological charges that are usually prone to instabilities in conservative and dissipative systems. Propagation of the perturbed unstable vortex solitons in this system reveals unusual dynamical regimes, when instead of decay or breakup, the initial state transforms into stable vortex soliton with lower or sometimes even with higher topological charge. Our results suggest an efficient mechanism for the formation of nonlinear excited vortex-carrying states with suppressed destructive azimuthal modulational instabilities in a simple setting relevant to a wide class of systems, including polaritonic systems, structured microcavities, and lasers., Comment: 6pages,5 figures, to be appear in Physical Review Letters

We predict that one- and two-dimensional self-bound quantum droplets, forming in Bose-Einstein condensates in the presence of Lee-Huang-Yang (LHY) quantum corrections to the mean-field energy, may demonstrate exceptional mobility in periodic optical lattices and that they may exhibit considerable displacements across the lattice, remaining dynamically stable, even under weak initial phase kicks imparted to them. Mobility properties of quantum droplets are determined by their internal structure and strongly depend on the number of particles in them. We find that due to the peculiar effect of the LHY quantum corrections, odd (i.e., on-site centered) and even (i.e., intersite-centered) one-dimensional quantum droplets feature alternating mobility and immobility bands closely corresponding to the regions, where translational perturbation mode is unstable and stable, respectively. This picture becomes even richer in two-dimensional case, where odd-odd, even-odd or even-even quantum droplets also feature alternating mobility and immobility domains, and where, surprisingly, the droplet may be mobile in one direction, but immobile in the orthogonal direction. We link changes in mobility properties with multiple intersections of energy $E(\mu)$ and norm $N(\mu)$ dependencies for droplets with different internal structure., Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures; to appear in Chaos, Solitons & Fractals

Higher-order topological insulators (HOTIs) are unique materials hosting topologically protected states, whose dimensionality is at least by a factor of 2 lower than that of the bulk. Topological states in such insulators may be strongly confined in their corners that leads to considerable enhancement of nonlinear processes involving such states. However, all nonlinear HOTIs demonstrated so far were built on periodic bulk lattice materials. Here we demonstrate first \textit{nonlinear photonic} HOTI with the fractal origin. Despite their fractional effective dimensionality, the HOTIs constructed here on two different types of the Sierpi\'nski gasket waveguide arrays, may support topological corner states for unexpectedly wide range of coupling strengths, even in parameter regions where conventional HOTIs become trivial. We demonstrate thresholdless solitons bifurcating from corner states in nonlinear fractal HOTIs and show that their localization can be efficiently controlled by the input beam power. We observe sharp differences in nonlinear light localization on outer and multiple inner corners and edges representative for these fractal materials. Our findings not only represent a new paradigm for nonlinear topological insulators, but also open new avenues for potential applications of fractal materials to control the light flow., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures

The existence of thresholdless vortex solitons trapped at the core of disclination lattices that realize higher-order topological insulators is reported. The study demonstrates the interplay between nonlinearity and higher-order topology in these systems, as the vortex state in the disclination lattice bifurcates from its linear topological counterpart, while the position of its propagation constant within the bandgap and localization can be controlled by its power. It is shown that vortex solitons are characterized by strong field confinement at the disclination core due to their topological nature, leading to enhanced stability. Simultaneously, the global discrete rotational symmetry of the disclination lattice imposes restrictions on the maximal possible topological charge of such vortex solitons. The results illustrate the strong stabilizing action that topologically nontrivial structures may exert on excited soliton states, opening new prospects for soliton-related applications., Comment: 17 pages, 13 figures, to be appear on Nanophotonics

We show that slow time-periodic variation of the external magnetic field applied to polariton topological insulator based on honeycomb array of microcavity pillars with pronounced TE-TM splitting results in oscillations of the edge states along the boundary of the insulator that are accompanied by slow transverse drift of the center of mass of the edge state along the boundary. The oscillations and drift are due to time-periodic variation of the sign of the instantaneous group velocity of the edge state with selected central Bloch momentum triggered by the variation of the Zeeman splitting in the external magnetic field. These oscillations are also accompanied by periodic exchange of norm between two polarization components of the edge state. Oscillating edge states survive despite the fact that magnetic field periodically vanishes resulting in closure of the topological gap in the instantaneous spectrum of the system. The direction of the drift and amplitude of oscillations of the edge state strongly and nonmonotonically depend on its initial central Bloch momentum., Comment: 6 pages,6 figures; to be appear on Physical Review B

All non-equivalent solutions of vacuum Maxwell equations are found for the case when space-time manifolds admit simply transitive four-parameter groups of motions $G_4(N)$. The potentials of the admissible electromagnetic fields admit the existence of the algebra of motion integrals of the Hamilton-Jacobi and Klein-Gordon-Fock equations which is isomorphic to the algebra of the group operators for the same group $G_4(N)$, Comment: 15 pages, will be published in Journal of Geometric Methods in Modern Physics

In this work, using binary Bose-Einstein condensate we propose a new type of topological insulator that does not explicitly use specially designed potential landscape, but instead utilizes spatially inhomogeneous Rabi coupling between two components, in the form of one- or two-dimensional Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) structure, combined with Zeeman splitting. Such Rabi lattices reveal the appearance of topologically nontrivial phases (including higher-order ones) controlled by spatial shift of the domains with enhanced coupling between condensates within unit cells of the structure, where localized topological states appear at the edges or in the corners of truncated Rabi lattice. We also show that the properties of edge states, their spatial localization, and location of their chemical potential within topological gap can be controlled by interatomic interactions that lead to formation of gap topological edge solitons bifurcating from linear edge states. Such solitons in condensates with inhomogeneous Rabi coupling appear as very robust nonlinear topological objects that do not require any threshold norm for their formation even in two-dimensional geometries, and that can exist in stable form for both attractive and repulsive interactions. Our results demonstrate considerable enhancement of stability of solitons in topological Rabi lattices in comparison with trivial Rabi lattices. They open new prospects for realization of topologically nontrivial phases by spatial engineering of coupling in multicomponent systems., Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, to appear in Physical Review B

We show that one-dimensional Floquet trimer arrays with periodically oscillating waveguides support two different and co-existing types of topological Floquet edge states in two different topological gaps in Floquet spectrum. In these systems nontrivial topology is introduced by longitudinal periodic oscillations of the waveguide centers, leading to the formation of Floquet edge states in certain range of oscillation amplitudes despite the fact that the structure spends half of the period in ``instantaneously'' nontopological phase, and only during other half-period it is ``instantaneously'' topological. Two co-existing Floquet edge states are characterized by different phase relations between bright spots in the unit cell -- in one mode these spots are in-phase, while in other mode they are out-of-phase. We show that in focusing nonlinear medium topological Floquet edge solitons, representing exactly periodic nonlinear localized Floquet states, can bifurcate from both these types of linear edge states. Both types of Floquet edge solitons can be stable and can be created dynamically using two-site excitations., Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures

We consider vortex solitons in large-scale arrays composed of N elliptical waveguides placed on a ring, which can be fabricated using fs-laser writing technique in transparent nonlinear dielectrics. By introducing variable twist angles between longer axes of neighboring elliptical waveguides on a ring, we create circular arrays with adjustable discrete rotational symmetry ranging from C_N to C_1, when the number of waveguides N on the ring remains fixed. This allows to consider the impact of discrete rotational symmetry on the properties of available vortex solitons without changing the number of guiding channels in the structure, and to predict how exactly splitting of higher-order phase singularities into sets of charge-1 singularities occurs in vortex states, when they are forbidden by the discrete rotational symmetry of the structure that imposes the restrictions on the maximal possible vortex charge. It is found that separation between split charge-1 phase singularities in such higher-order vortex states increases with increase of the order of solution. We also study linear spectra of such arrays and show how variation of their discrete rotational symmetry affects linear eigenmodes, whose combinations can give rise to vortex modes. We also show that variation of discrete rotational symmetry in arrays with fixed number of guiding channels N has strong impact on stability of vortex solitons. Thus, only higher-charge vortex solitons are stable in such large-scale arrays and the number of stable states typically decreases with decrease of the order of discrete rotational symmetry of the structure at fixed N., Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Chaos, Solitons and Fractals

The quantum Zeno effect refers to slowing down of the decay of a quantum system that is affected by frequent measurements. Nowadays, the significance of this paradigm is extended far beyond quantum systems, where it was introduced, finding physical and mathematical analogies in such phenomena as the suppression of output beam decay by sufficiently strong absorption introduced in guiding optical systems. In the latter case, the effect is often termed as macroscopic Zeno effect. Recent studies in optics, where enhanced transparency of the entire system was observed upon the increase of the absorption, were largely focused on the systems obeying parity-time symmetry, hence, the observed effect was attributed to the symmetry breaking. While manifesting certain similarities in the behavior of the transparency of the system with the mentioned studies, the macroscopic Zeno phenomenon reported here in topological photonic system is far more general in nature. In particular, we show that it does not require the existence of exceptional points, and that it is based on the suppression of decay for only a subspace of modes that can propagate in the system, alike the quantum Zeno dynamics. By introducing controlled losses in one of the arms of a topological insulator comprising two closely positioned Su-Schrieffer-Heeger arrays, we demonstrate the macroscopic Zeno effect, which manifests itself in an increase of the transparency of the system with respect to the topological modes created at the interface between two arrays. The phenomenon remains robust against disorder in the non-Hermitian topological regime. In contrast, coupling a topological array with a non-topological one results in a monotonic decrease in output power with increasing absorption.

Floquet systems with periodically varying in time parameters enable realization of unconventional topological phases that do not exist in static systems with constant parameters and that are frequently accompanied by appearance of novel types of the topological states. Among such Floquet systems are the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger lattices with periodically-modulated couplings that can support at their edges anomalous $\pi$ modes of topological origin despite the fact that the lattice spends only half of the evolution period in topologically nontrivial phase, while during other half-period it is topologically trivial. Here, using Su-Schrieffer-Heeger arrays composed from periodically oscillating waveguides inscribed in transparent nonlinear optical medium, we report experimental observation of photonic anomalous $\pi$ modes residing at the edge or in the corner of the one- or two-dimensional arrays, respectively, and demonstrate a new class of topological $\pi$ solitons bifurcating from such modes in the topological gap of the Floquet spectrum at high powers. $\pi$ solitons reported here are strongly oscillating nonlinear Floquet states exactly reproducing their profiles after each longitudinal period of the structure. They can be dynamically stable in both one- and two-dimensional oscillating waveguide arrays, the latter ones representing the first realization of the Floquet photonic higher-order topological insulator, while localization properties of such $\pi$ solitons are determined by their power., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Science Bulletin

We study the existence and stability of $\pi$-solitons on a ring of periodically oscillating waveguides. The array is arranged into Su-Schrieffer-Heeger structure placed on a ring, with additional spacing between two ends of the array. Due to longitudinal oscillations of waveguides, this Floquet structure spends half of the longitudinal period in topological phase, while on the other half it is nontopological. Nevertheless, waveguide oscillations lead to the emergence of anomalous topological $\pi$-modes at both ends of the structure that strongly couple in our ring geometry, leading to the formation of previously unexplored in-phase and out-of-phase $\pi$-modes. We study topological solitons bifurcating from such linear $\pi$-modes and demonstrate how their properties and stability depend on the size of the ring and on spacing between two ends of the array., Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures

We consider Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) subject to the action of spin-orbit-coupling (SOC) periodically modulated in the radial direction. In contrast to the commonly known principle that periodic potentials do not create bound states, the binary BEC maintains multiple localized modes in the linear limit, with their chemical potential falling into spectral gaps of the (numerically found) radial band structure induced by the spatial modulation of the SOC. In the presence of the repulsive nonlinearity, the SOC modulation supports fundamental gap solitons of the semi-vortex types, as well as higher-order vortex gap solitons. The localization degree and stability of the gap solitons strongly depend on the location of their chemical potential in the gap. Stability intervals for vortex gap solitons in a broad range of the intrinsic vorticity, from -2 to 3, are identified. Thus, the analysis reveals the previously unexplored mechanism of linear and nonlinear localization provided by the spatially periodic modulation of SOC, which may be extended to other settings, such as those for optical beams and polaritons. Unlike the commonly known quartets of eigenvalues for small perturbations, in the present system the instability is accounted for by shifted complex eigenvalue pairs., Comment: 7pages, 4 figures, to be published in Chaos, Solitons & Fractals

We show that optical moire lattices enable the existence of vortex solitons of different types in self-focusing Kerr media. We address the properties of such states both in lattices having commensurate and incommensurate geometries (i.e., constructed with Pythagorean and non-Pythagorean twist angles, respectively), in the different regimes that occur below and above the localization-delocalization transition. We find that the threshold power required for the formation of vortex solitons strongly depends on the twist angle and, also, that the families of solitons exhibit intervals where their power is a nearly linear function of the propagation constant and they exhibit strong stability. Also, in the incommensurate phase above the localization-delocalization transition, we found stable embedded vortex solitons whose propagation constants belong to the linear spectral domain of the system.

Taming the instabilities inherent to many nonlinear optical phenomena is of paramount importance for modern photonics. In particular, the so-called snake instability is universally known to severely distort localized wave stripes, leading to the occurrence of transient, short-lived dynamical states that eventually decay. The phenomenon is ubiquitous in nonlinear science, from river meandering to superfluids, and to date it remains apparently uncontrollable. However, here we show that optical snake instabilities can be harnessed by a process that leads to the formation of stationary and robust two-dimensional zigzag states. We find that such new type of nonlinear waves exists in the hyperbolic regime of cylindrical micro-resonators and it naturally corresponds to two-dimensional frequency combs featuring spectral heterogeneity and intrinsic synchronization. We uncover the conditions of the existence of such spatiotemporal photonic snakes and confirm their remarkable robustness against perturbations. Our findings represent a new paradigm for frequency comb generation, thus opening the door to a whole range of applications in communications, metrology, and spectroscopy., Comment: 6 figures, 11 pages

We study both, experimentally and theoretically, propagation of light in the fs-laser written rotating square waveguide arrays and present the first experimental evidence of light localization induced by the rotation of periodic structure in the direction of light propagation. Such linear light localization occurs either in the corners of truncated square array, where it results from the interplay between the centrifugal effect and total internal reflection at the borders of truncated array, or in the center of array, where rotation creates effective attractive optical potential. The degree of localization of linear bulk and corner modes emerging due to the rotation increases with the increase of rotation frequency. Consequently, corner and bulk solitons in rotating wave-guide arrays become thresholdless for sufficiently large rotation frequencies, in contrast to solitons in non-rotating arrays that exist only above power threshold. Focusing nonlinearity enhances localization degree of corner modes, but surprising initially it leads to broadening of bulk nonlinear states, followed by their re-localization at high input powers. Our results open new prospects for control of evolution of nonlinear multidimensional excitations by dynamically varying potentials., Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, to be appear on ACS Photonics

Introduction of controllable deformations into periodic materials that lead to disclinations in their structure opens novel routes for construction of higher-order topological insulators hosting topological states at disclinations. Appearance of these topological states is consistent with the bulk-disclination correspondence principle, and is due to the filling anomaly that results in fractional charges to the boundary unit cells. So far, topological disclination states were observed only in the linear regime, while the interplay between nonlinearity and topology in the systems with disclinations has been never studied experimentally. We report here bon the experimental observation of the nonlinear photonic disclination states in waveguide arrays with pentagonal or heptagonal disclination cores inscribed in transparent optical medium using the fs-laser writing technique. The transition between nontopological and topological phases in such structures is controlled by the Kekul\'e distortion coefficient $r$ with topological phase hosting simultaneously disclination states at the inner disclination core and spatially separated from them corner, zero-energy, and extended edge states at the outer edge of the structure. We show that the robust nonlinear disclination states bifurcate from their linear counterparts and that location of their propagation constants in the gap and, hence, their spatial localization can be controlled by their power. Nonlinear disclination states can be efficiently excited by Gaussian input beams, but only if they are focused into the waveguides belonging to the disclination core, where such topological states reside., Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures

We introduce a different class of thresholdless three-dimensional soliton states that form in higher-order topological insulators based on a two-dimensional Su-Schrieffer-Heeger array of coupled waveguides. The linear spectrum of such structures is characterized by the presence of a topological gap with corner states residing in them. We find that a focusing Kerr nonlinearity allows families of light bullets bifurcating from the linear corner states to exist as stable three-dimensional solitons, which inherit topological protection from their linear corner counterparts and, remarkably, survive even in the presence of considerable disorder. The light bullets exhibit a spatial localization degree that depends strongly on the array dimerization and may feature large temporal widths in the topological gap near the bifurcation point, thus drastically reducing the otherwise strong instabilities caused by higher-order effects.

We address the formation of topological edge solitons in rotating Su-Schrieffer-Heeger waveguide arrays. The linear spectrum of the non-rotating topological array is characterized by the presence of topological gap with two edge states residing in it. Rotation of the array significantly modifies the spectrum and may move these edge states out of the topological gap. Defocusing nonlinearity counteracts this tendency and shifts such modes back into topological gap, where they acquire structure of tails typical for topological edge states. We present rich bifurcation structure for rotating topological solitons and show that they can be stable. Rotation of the topologically trivial array, without edge states in its spectrum, also leads to the appearance of localized edge states, but in a trivial semi-infinite gap. Families of rotating edge solitons bifurcating from the trivial linear edge states exist too and sufficiently strong defocusing nonlinearity can also drive them into the topological gap, qualitatively modifying the structure of their tails.

We observe linear and nonlinear light localization at the edges and in the corners of truncated moir\'e lattices created by the superposition of periodic mutually-twisted at Pythagorean angles square sublattices. Experimentally exciting corner linear modes in the fs-laser written moir\'e lattices we find drastic differences in their localization properties in comparison with the bulk excitations. We also address the impact of nonlinearity on the corner and bulk modes and experimentally observe the crossover from linear quasi-localized states to the surface solitons emerging at the higher input powers. Our results constitute the first experimental demonstration of localization phenomena induced by truncation of periodic moir\'e structures in photonic systems., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Physical Review Letters

We present a general approach to excite robust dissipative three-dimensional and high-order solitons and breathers in passively driven nonlinear cavities. Our findings are illustrated in the paradigmatic example provided by an optical Kerr cavity with diffraction and anomalous dispersion, with the addition of an attractive three-dimensional parabolic potential. The potential breaks the translational symmetry along all directions, and impacts the system in a qualitatively unexpected manner: three-dimensional solitons, or light-bullets, are the only existing and stable states for a given set of parameters. This property is extremely rare, if not unknown, in passive nonlinear physical systems. As a result, the excitation of the cavity with any input field leads to the deterministic formation of a target soliton or breather, with a spatiotemporal profile that unambiguously corresponds to the given cavity and pumping conditions. In addition, the tuning of the potential width along the temporal direction results in the existence of a plethora of stable asymmetric solitons. Our results may provide a solid route towards the observation of dissipative light bullets and three-dimensional breathers.

Topological edge states form at the edges of periodic materials with specific degeneracies in their modal spectra, such as Dirac points, under the action of effects breaking certain symmetries of the system. In particular, in Floquet topological insulators unidirectional edge states appear upon breakup of the effective time-reversal symmetry due to dynamical modulations of the underlying lattice potential. However, such states are usually reported for certain simple lattice terminations, for example, at zigzag or bearded edges in honeycomb lattices. Here we show that unconventional topological edge states may exist in Floquet insulators based on arrays of helical waveguides with hybrid edges involving alternating zigzag and armchair segments, even if the latter are long. Such edge states appear in the largest part of the first Brillouin zone and show topological protection upon passage through the defects. Topological states at hybrid edges persist in the presence of focusing nonlinearity of the material. Our results can be extended to other lattice types and physical systems, they lift some of the constraints connected with lattice terminations that may not support edge states in the absence of effects breaking time-reversal symmetry of the system and expand the variety of geometrical shapes in which topological insulators can be constructed., Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Chaos, Solitons and Fractals

Higher-order topological insulators are unusual materials that can support topologically protected states, whose dimensionality is lower than the dimensionality of the structure at least by 2. Among the most intriguing examples of such states are zero-dimensional corner modes existing in two-dimensional higher-order insulators. In contrast to corner states, recently discovered disclination states also belong to the class of higher-order topological states, but are bound to the boundary of the disclination defect of the higher-order topological insulator and can be predicted using the bulk-disclination correspondence principle. Here, we present the first example of the nonlinear photonic disclination state bifurcating from its linear counterpart in the disclination lattice with a pentagonal or heptagonal core. We show that nonlinearity allows to tune location of the disclination states in the bandgap and notably affects their shapes. The structure of the disclination lattice is crucial for stability of these nonlinear topological states: for example, disclination states are stable in the heptagonal lattice and are unstable nearly in the entire gap of the pentagonal lattice. Nonlinear disclination states reported here are thresholdless and can be excited even at low powers. Nonlinear zero-energy states coexisting in these structures with disclination states are also studied. Our results suggest that disclination lattices can be used in the design of various nonlinear topological functional devices, while disclination states supported by them may play an important role in applications, where strong field confinement together with topological protection are important, such as the design of topological lasers and enhancement of generation of high harmonics., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, to appear in APL Photonics

Continuous and quantized transports are profoundly different. The latter is determined by the global rather than local properties of a system, it exhibits unique topological features, and its ubiquitous nature causes its occurrence in many areas of science. Here we report the first observation of fully-two-dimensional Thouless pumping of light by bulk modes in a purpose-designed tilted moir\'e lattices imprinted in a photorefractive crystal. Pumping in such unconfined system occurs due to the longitudinal adiabatic and periodic modulation of the refractive index. The topological nature of this phenomenon manifests itself in the magnitude and direction of shift of the beam center-of-mass averaged over one pumping cycle. \rev{Our experimental results are supported by systematic numerical simulations in the frames of the continuous Schr\"{o}dinger equation governing propagation of probe light beam in optically-induced photorefractive moir\'e lattice.} Our system affords a powerful platform for the exploration of topological pumping in tunable commensurate and incommensurate geometries., Comment: 19 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Nature Communications

We address the formation of \{chi}(2) topological edge solitons emerging in topologically nontrivial phase in Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) waveguide arrays. We consider edge solitons, whose fundamental frequency (FF) component belongs to the topological gap, while phase mismatch determines whether second harmonic (SH) component falls into topological or trivial forbidden gaps of the spectrum for SH wave. Two representative types of edge solitons are found, one of which is thresholdless and bifurcates from topological edge state in FF component, while other exists above power threshold and emanates from topological edge state in SH wave. Both types of solitons can be stable. Their stability, localization degree, and internal structure strongly depend on phase mismatch between FF and SH waves. Our results open new prospects for control of topologically nontrivial states by parametric wave interactions., Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures

A honeycomb array of helical waveguides with zigzag-zigzag edges and a refractive index gradient orthogonal to the edges may support Floquet bound states in continuum (BICs). The gradient of the refractive index leads to strong asymmetry of the Floquet-Bloch spectrum. The mechanism of creation of such Floquet BICs is understood as emergence of crossings and avoided crossings of the branches supported by spatially limited stripe array. The whole spectrum of a finite array is split into the bulk branches being continuation of the edge states in the extended zone revealing multiple self-crossings and bulk modes disconnected from the gap states by avoided crossing. Nearly all states in the system are localized due to the gradient, but topological edge states manifest much stronger localization than other states. Such strongly localized Floquet BICs coexist with localized Wannier-Stark-like bulk modes. Robustness of the edge Floquet states is confirmed by their passage through a localized edge defect in the form of a missing waveguide., Comment: 5 pages,3 figures

We consider theoretically the nonlinear quantized Thouless pumping of a Bose-Einstein condensate loaded in a two-dimensional dynamical optical lattices. We encountered three different scenarios of the pumping: quasi-linear one occurring for gradually dispersing wave packets, transport carried by a single two-dimensional soliton, and multi-soliton regime when initial wave packet splits into several solitons. The scenario to be realized depends on the number of atoms in the initial wave packet and on the strength of the two-body interactions. The magnitude and direction of the displacement of a wavepacket are determined by Chern numbers of the populated energy bands and by the inter-band transitions induced by two-body interactions. As a case example we explore a separable potential created by optical lattices whose constitutive sublattices undergo relative motion in the orthogonal directions. For such potentials, obeying parity-time symmetry, fractional Chern numbers, computed over half period of the evolution, acquire relevance. We focus mainly on solitonic scenarios, showing that one-soliton pumping occurs at relatively small as well as at sufficiently large amplitudes of the initial wavepacket, while at intermediate amplitudes the transport is multi-solitonic. We also describe peculiarities of the pumping characterized by two different commensurate periods of the modulations of the lattices in the orthogonal directions., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Physical Review Letters

We predict that photonic moir\'e lattices produced by two mutually twisted periodic sublattices in the medium with Kerr nonlinearity can support stable three-dimensional light bullets localized in both space and time. Stability of light bullets and their properties are tightly connected with the properties of linear spatial eigenmodes of moir\'e lattice that undergo localization-delocalization transition (LDT) upon increase of the depth of one of the sublattices forming moir\'e lattice, but only for twist angles corresponding to incommensurate, aperiodic moir\'e structures. Above LDT threshold such incommensurate moir\'e lattices support stable light bullets without energy threshold. In contrast, commensurate, or periodic, moir\'e lattices arising at Pythagorean twist angles, whose eigenmodes are delocalized Bloch waves, can support stable light bullets only above certain energy threshold. Moir\'e lattices below LDT threshold cannot support stable light bullets for our parameters. Our results illustrate that periodicity/aperiodicity of the underlying lattice is a crucial factor determining stability properties of the nonlinear three-dimensional states., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures

We predict the existence and study properties of the valley Hall edge solitons in a composite photonic graphene with a domain wall between two honeycomb lattices with broken inversion symmetry. Inversion symmetry in our system is broken due to detuning introduced into constituent sublattices of the honeycomb structure. We show that nonlinear valley Hall edge states with sufficiently high amplitude bifurcating from the linear valley Hall edge state supported by the domain wall, can split into sets of bright spots due to development of the modulational instability, and that such an instability is a precursor for the formation of topological bright valley Hall edge solitons localized due to nonlinear self-action and travelling along the domain wall over large distances. Topological protection of the valley Hall edge solitons is demonstrated by modeling their passage through sharp corners of the $\Omega$-shaped domain wall., Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures

We address the formation of topological states in twisted circular waveguide arrays and find that twisting leads to important differences of the fundamental properties of new vortex solitons with opposite topological charges that arise in the nonlinear regime. We find that such system features the rare property that clockwise and counter-clockwise vortex states are nonequivalent. Focusing on arrays with C_{6v} discrete rotation symmetry, we find that a longitudinal twist stabilizes the vortex solitons with the lowest topological charges m=+-1, which are always unstable in untwisted arrays with the same symmetry. Twisting also leads to the appearance of instability domains for otherwise stable solitons with m=+-2 and generates vortex modes with topological charges m=+-3 that are forbidden in untwisted arrays. By and large, we establish a rigorous relation between the discrete rotation symmetry of the array, its twist direction, and the possible soliton topological charges., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Physical Review Letters

Vortices are topologically distinctive objects appearing as phase twists in coherent fields of optical beams and Bose-Einstein condensates. Structured networks and artificial lattices of coupled vortices could offer a powerful platform to study and simulate interaction mechanisms between constituents of condensed matter systems, such as antiferromagnetic interactions, by replacement of spin angular momentum with orbital angular momentum. Here, we realize such a platform using a macroscopic quantum fluid of light based on exciton-polariton condensates. We imprint all-optical hexagonal lattice that results into a triangular vortex lattice, with each cell having a vortex of charge l = +-1. We reveal that pairs of coupled condensates spontaneously arrange their orbital angular momentum antiparallel, implying a form of artificial orbital "antiferromagnetism". We discover that correlation exists between the emergent vortex patterns in triangular condensate lattices and the low-energy solutions of the corresponding antiferromagnetic Ising system. Our study offers a path toward spontaneously ordered vortex arrays with nearly arbitrary configurations and controlled couplings.

We report the experimental observation of the periodic switching of topological edge states between two dimerized fs-laser written waveguide arrays. Switching occurs due to the overlap of the modal fields of the edge states from topological forbidden gap, when they are simultaneously present in two arrays brought into close proximity. We found that the phenomenon occurs for both strongly and weakly localized edge states and that switching rate increases with decreasing spacing between the topological arrays. When topological arrays are brought in contact with nontopological ones, switching in topological gap does not occur, while one observes either the formation of nearly stationary topological interface mode or strongly asymmetric diffraction into the nontopological array depending on the position of the initial excitation. Switching between topological arrays can be controlled and even completely arrested by increasing the peak power of the input signal, as we observed with different array spacings., Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures

Topological edge solitons propagating along the edge of a photonic topological insulator are localized self-sustained hybrid states that are immune to de-fects/disorders due to protection of the edge states stemming from nontrivial topology of the system. Here, we predict that exceptionally robust dark valley Hall edge solitons may form at the domain walls between two honeycomb lattices with broken inversion sym-metry. The underlying structure can be created with femtosecond laser inscription, it possesses large bandgap where well-localized dark edge solitons form, and in contrast to systems with broken time-reversal symmetry, it does not require external magnetic fields or complex longitudinal waveguide modulations for reali-zation of the topological phase. We present the enve-lope equation allowing to construct dark valley Hall edge solitons analytically. Such solitons propagate without radiation into the bulk of the lattice, and can circumvent sharp corners, that allows to observe their persistent circulation along the closed triangular domain wall boundary. They survive over huge distances even in the presence of disorder in the underlying lattice. We also investigate interactions of closely located dark topological valley Hall edge solitons and show that they are repulsive and lead to the formation of two grey edge solitons, moving with different group velocities depart-ing from group velocity of the linear edge state on which initial dark solitons were constructed. Our results illus-trate that nonlinear valley Hall systems can support rich variety of new self-sustained topological states and may inspire their investigation in other nonlinear systems, such as atomic vapours and polariton condensates., Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures