Supersolid behavior of nonlinear light

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that light in a nonlinear photonic crystal can simultaneously exhibit superfluidity and long-range order, effectively behaving as a supersolid, with implications for stable nonlinear waves and topological defects.

Contribution

It introduces a condensed matter framework to describe supersolid-like behavior of light in nonlinear photonic structures, supported by numerical evidence.

Findings

Light exhibits supersolid behavior with superfluidity and spatial order.

Stable nonlinear Bloch waves are supported by this phase.

Topological solitons and defects can exist in this regime.

Abstract

We present a formal demonstration that light can simultaneously exhibit a superfluid behavior and spatial long-range order when propagating in a photonic crystal with self-focussing nonlinearity. In this way, light presents the distinguishing features of matter in a "supersolid" phase. We show that this supersolid phase provides the stability conditions for nonlinear Bloch waves and, at the same time, permits the existence of topological solitons or defects for the envelope of these waves. We use a condensed matter analysis instead of a standard nonlinear optics approach and provide numerical evidence of these theoretical findings.