Nonlinear Light Propagation in Photonic Lattices

Jianke Yang
Mathematics and Statistics, University of Vermont

Abstract: Recently, light propagation in an optically-induced photonic lattice is stirring a lot of interest due to their novel physics,light-routing applications, as well as connections to photonic crystals and Bose-Einstein condensation. In this talk, I will report our recent theoretical and experimental results on nonlinear localized states of light in a two-dimensional photonic lattice. These localized states include the fundamental lattice solitons, vortex solitons, dipole solitons, and quadrupole solitons. These solitons exhibit interesting geometric structures, and they arise due to the presence of the photonic lattice. The stability analysis for these novel solitons will also be presented. Experimentally, we have observed these lattice solitons in photorefractive crystals, and the experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical predictions. This work was done in collaboration with Prof. Z. Chen in San Francisco State University.