Self-trapping threshold in disordered nonlinear photonic lattices

TL;DR

This paper studies how coupling disorder affects the self-trapping threshold in nonlinear disordered photonic lattices, revealing that disorder lowers the power needed for soliton localization, supported by numerical and experimental results.

Contribution

It introduces a generalized threshold power concept for disordered nonlinear photonic lattices and demonstrates how disorder influences self-trapping dynamics.

Findings

Disorder lowers the self-trapping threshold power.

Existence of bounds on the effective propagation constant.

Experimental validation of numerical predictions.

Abstract

We investigate numerically and experimentally the influence of coupling disorder on the self-trapping dynamics in nonlinear one-dimensional optical waveguide arrays. The existence of a lower and upper bound of the effective average propagation constant allows for a generalized definition of the threshold power for the onset of soliton localization. When compared to perfectly ordered systems, this threshold is found to decrease in the presence of coupling disorder.