Dissipative Nonlinear Thouless Pumping of Temporal Solitons

TL;DR

This paper investigates how dissipative temporal solitons in a nonlinear optical system exhibit topological phase transitions, including quantized drifting and dynamic arrest, driven by dissipation, nonlinearity, and topology interplay.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of dissipative topological phase transitions in temporal solitons within a nonconservative optical system, expanding the understanding of topology in dissipative nonlinear physics.

Findings

Identification of two dissipatively induced topological phase transitions.

Robust quantized temporal drift of solitons across multi-soliton states.

Emergence of a dynamic phase transition where solitons are arrested and then transition to drift.

Abstract

The interplay between topology and soliton is a central topic in nonlinear topological physics. So far, most studies have been confined to conservative settings. Here, we explore Thouless pumping of dissipative temporal solitons in a nonconservative one-dimensional optical system with gain and spectral filtering, described by the paradigmatic complex Ginzburg-Landau equation. Two dissipatively induced nonlinear topological phase transitions are identified. First, when varying dissipative parameters across a threshold, the soliton transitions from being trapped in time to quantized drifting. This quantized temporal drift remains robust, even as the system evolves from a single-soliton state into multi-soliton state. Second, a dynamically emergent phase transition is found: the soliton is arrested until a critical point of its evolution, where a transition to topological drift occurs. Both phenomena uniquely arise from the dynamical interplay of dissipation, nonlinearity and topology.