Saddle solitons: a balance between bi-diffraction and hybrid nonlinearity

Opt Lett. 2009 Nov 1;34(21):3259-61. doi: 10.1364/OL.34.003259.

Abstract

We demonstrate self-trapping of light by simultaneously compensating normal and anomalous (saddle-shaped) diffractions with self-focusing and self-defocusing hybrid nonlinearity in optically induced ionic-type photonic lattices. Innovative two-dimensional gap solitons, named "saddle solitons," are established, whose phase and spectrum characteristics are different from all previously observed spatial solitons.