Vortex solitons in topological disclination lattices

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of thresholdless vortex solitons in topological disclination lattices, highlighting their stability and controllability due to the interplay of nonlinearity and higher-order topology.

Contribution

It introduces the existence and properties of vortex solitons in topological disclination lattices, demonstrating their stability and controllability based on topological and nonlinear effects.

Findings

Vortex solitons bifurcate from linear topological states.

Field confinement at the disclination core is enhanced by topology.

Maximum topological charge is limited by lattice symmetry.

Abstract

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.