Multidimensional solitons in periodic potentials

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the existence and stability of multidimensional solitons in 2D and 3D media with periodic potentials, using variational approximation and simulations, relevant for Bose-Einstein condensates and photonic crystals.

Contribution

It introduces stable multidimensional solitons in periodic potentials, including vortex solitons, and analyzes their stability and formation thresholds.

Findings

Stable 2D and 3D solitons are demonstrated.

Threshold norms for soliton formation are identified.

Stable vortex solitons are found.

Abstract

The existence of stable solitons in two- and three-dimensional (2D and 3D) media governed by the self-focusing cubic nonlinear Schr\"{o}dinger equation with a periodic potential is demonstrated by means of the variational approximation (VA) and in direct simulations. The potential stabilizes the solitons against collapse. Direct physical realizations are a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) trapped in an optical lattice, and a light beam in a bulk Kerr medium of a photonic-crystal type. In the 2D case, the creation of the soliton in a weak lattice potential is possible if the norm of the field (number of atoms in BEC, or optical power in the Kerr medium) exceeds a threshold value (which is smaller than the critical norm leading to collapse). Both "single-cell" and "multi-cell" solitons are found, which occupy, respectively, one or several cells of the periodic potential, depending on the soliton's norm. Solitons of the former type and their stability are well predicted by VA. Stable 2D vortex solitons are found too.