Rotating vortex clusters in media with inhomogeneous defocusing nonlinearity

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that media with inhomogeneous defocusing nonlinearity can support stable vortex clusters, with rotation influencing their symmetry and stability, revealing new possibilities for vortex pattern control.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of stable vortex clusters in media with inhomogeneous defocusing nonlinearity and explores how rotation affects their structure and stability.

Findings

Stable vortex clusters can exist in media with inhomogeneous defocusing nonlinearity.

Rotation induces asymmetry in vortex clusters and can stabilize certain configurations.

Stationary asymmetric vortex clusters are identified in the rotating frame.

Abstract

We show that media with inhomogeneous defocusing cubic nonlinearity growing toward the periphery can support a variety of stable vortex clusters nested in a common localized envelope. Nonrotating symmetric clusters are built of an even number of vortices with opposite topological charges, located at equal distances from the origin. Rotation makes the clusters strongly asymmetric, as the centrifugal force shifts some vortices to the periphery, while others approach the origin, depending on the topological charge. We obtain such asymmetric clusters as stationary states in the rotating coordinate frame, identify their existence domains, and show that the rotation may stabilize some of them.