#16 Evolution and dynamics of solitons in a periodic optical potential

Solitons are nonlinear waves that possess the remarkable property of undiminished intensity over a large propagation distance. Many paradigmatic models exist to investigate and understand the underlying physics of these solutions broadly in nonlinear physics, and in particular in nonlinear optics [1,2]. While rigorous analytical methods can provide better insights into such settings, it is often the case that their analytical solutions may appear intractable, especially in complex optical potentials. It is thus imperative to develop and use stable and accurate numerical methods to gain useful understanding of these systems. In this project, it is anticipated to study the existence, stability and dynamics of solitonic solutions in periodic optical settings by numerical computation. A particular case of interest could also be a PT symmetric variant of the potential where still stable solitons may emerge under certain conditions [3].

[1] Y. S. Kivshar and G. P. Agrawal, “Optical Solitons: From Fiber Optics to Photonic Crystals,” Academic Press (2003).

[2] R. W. Boyd, “Nonlinear Optics,” Academic Press (2020).

[3] V. V. Konotop, J. Yang, D. Zezyulin, “Nonlinear waves in PT-symmetric systems,” Review of Modern Physics 88, 035002 (2016).