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The type-II Dirac cone is a special feature of the band structure, whose Fermi level is represented by a pair of crossing lines. It has been demonstrated that such a structure is useful for investigating topological edge solitons, and more specifically, for mimicking the Kline tunneling. However, it is still not clear what the interplay between type-II Dirac cones and the non-Hermiticity mechanism will result in. Here, this question is addressed; in particular, we report the $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric photonic lattices with type-II Dirac cones for the first time. We identify a slope-exceptional ring and name it the type-II exceptional ring. We display the restoration of the $\mathcal{PT}$ symmetry of the lattice by reducing the separation between the sites in the unit cell. Curiously, the amplitude of the beam during propagation in the non-Hermitian lattice with $\mathcal{PT}$ symmetry only decays because of diffraction, whereas in the $\mathcal{PT}$ symmetry-broken lattice it will be amplified, even though the beam still diffracts. This work establishes the link between the non-Hermiticity mechanism and the violation of Lorentz invariance in these physical systems., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Optics Letters. Comments are welcome

Rabi oscillation, an inter-band oscillation, depicts the periodic flopping between two states that belong to different energy levels in the presence of an oscillatory driving field. In photonics, Rabi oscillation can be mimicked by applying a weak longitudinal periodic modulation to the refractive index change of the system. However, the Rabi oscillation of nonlinear states has yet to be discussed. We report Rabi oscillations of azimuthons---spatially modulated vortex solitons---in weakly nonlinear waveguides with different symmetries, both numerically and theoretically. The period of Rabi oscillation can be determined by applying the coupled mode theory, which largely depends on the modulation strength. Whether the Rabi oscillation between two states can be obtained or not is determined by the spatial symmetry of the azimuthons and the modulating potential. In this paper we succeeded in obtaining the Rabi oscillation of azimuthons in the weakly nonlinear waveguides with different symmetries. Our results not only enrich the Rabi oscillation phenomena, but also provide a new avenue in the study of pattern formation and spatial field manipulation in nonlinear optical systems., Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Advanced Photonics

We investigate the formation and propagation of vector vortex solitons (VS) and unipolar soliton (US) in a cold atomic gas with Bessel lattices (BLs). The system we consider is a cold, coherent atomic gas with a tripod or multipod level configuration. Dueing to the giant enhancement of Kerr nonlinearity contributed by electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT), a vector weak vortex soliton can be effectively formed with ultraslow propagating velocity. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the characteristics of 2D VS and US can be controlled and manipulated via adjusting BLs. The results predicted here may be used to design all-optical switching at very low light level., Comment: 14 pages and 5 figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1604.05046 by other authors

We demonstrate a novel method for producing optically-induced Lieb and super-honeycomb lattices, by employing the fractional Talbot effect of specific periodic beam structures. Our numerical and analytical results display the generation of Lieb and super-honeycomb lattices at fractional Talbot lengths effectively and with high beam quality. By adjusting the initial phase shifts of the interfering beams, the incident periodic beam structures, as well as the lattices with broken inversion symmetry, can be constructed in situ. This research suggests not only a possible practical utilization of the Talbot effect in the production of novel optically-induced lattices but also in the studies of related optical topological phenomena., Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures

We investigate linear and nonlinear evolution dynamics of light beams propagating along a dislocated edge-centered square lattice. The band structure and Brillouin zones of this novel lattice are analyzed analytically and numerically. Asymmetric Dirac cones as well as the corresponding Bloch modes of the lattice are obtained. By adopting the tight-binding approximation, we give an explanation of the asymmetry of Dirac cones. By utilizing the appropriate Bloch modes, linear and nonlinear asymmetric conical diffraction is demonstrated. We find that both the focusing and defocusing nonlinearities can enhance the asymmetry of the conical diffraction., Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures

We investigate higher-order breathers of the cubic nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation on an elliptic background. We find that, beyond first-order, any arbitrarily constructed breather is a single-peaked solitary wave on a disordered background. These "quasi-rogue waves" are also common on periodic backgrounds. We assume the higher-order breather is constructed out of constituent first-order breathers with commensurate periods (i.e., higher-order harmonic waves). In that case, one obtains "quasi-periodic" breathers with distorted side-peaks. Fully periodic breathers are obtained when their wavenumbers are harmonic multiples of the background and each other. They are truly rare, requiring finely-tuned parameters. Thus, on a periodic background, we arrive at the paradoxical conclusion that the apparent higher-order rogue waves are rather common, while the truly periodic breathers are exceedingly rare., Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures

We address propagation of light in nonlinear twisted multi-core fibers with alternating amplifying and absorbing cores that are arranged into the PT - symmetric structure. In this structure, the coupling strength between neighboring cores and global energy transport can be controlled not only by the nonlinearity strength, but also by gain and losses and by the fiber twisting rate. The threshold level of gain/losses, at which PT -symmetry breaking occurs, is a non-monotonic function of the fiber twisting rate and it can be reduced nearly to zero or, instead, notably increased just by changing this rate. Nonlinearity usually leads to the monotonic reduction of the symmetry breaking threshold in such fibers., Comment: 6 pages,5 figures, to appear in Optics Letters

In a recent paper [A. Alberucci, C. Jisha, N. Smyth, and G. Assanto, Phys. Rev. A 91, 013841 (2015)], Alberucci et al. have studied the propagation of bright spatial solitary waves in highly nonlocal media. We find that the main results in that and related papers, concerning soliton shape and dynamics, based on the accessible soliton (AS) approximation, are incorrect; the correct results have already been published by others. These and other inconsistencies in the paper follow from the problems in applying the AS approximation in earlier papers by the group that propagated to the later papers. The accessible soliton theory cannot describe accurately the features and dynamics of solitons in highly nonlocal media., Comment: 2 pages

We investigate numerically light propagation in a single spiral waveguide formed in a nonlinear photorefractive medium for a low spatial frequency of the waveguide rotation. We present the general procedure for finding solitonic solutions in spiral waveguiding structures, as well as the variational approach to calculate soliton parameters analytically. Solitons supported by the spiral waveguide perform robust stable rotational oscillatory motion, with the period predicted by their static characteristics, without any signatures of wave radiation or soliton decay over many rotation periods and diffraction lengths., Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures, submitted to PRA

We address edge states and rich localization regimes available in the one-dimensional (1D) dynamically modulated superlattices, both theoretically and numerically. In contrast to conventional lattices with straight waveguides, the quasi-energy band of infinite modulated superlattice is periodic not only in the transverse Bloch momentum, but it also changes periodically with increase of the coupling strength between waveguides. Due to collapse of quasi-energy bands dynamical superlattices admit known dynamical localization effect. If, however, such a lattice is truncated, periodic longitudinal modulation leads to appearance of specific edge states that exist within certain periodically spaced intervals of coupling constants. We discuss unusual transport properties of such truncated superlattices and illustrate different excitation regimes and enhanced robustness of edge states in them, that is associated with topology of the quasi-energy band., Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures

We investigate, both theoretically and numerically, a graphene-coated nano-cylinder illuminated by a plane electromagnetic wave in THz range of frequencies. We have derived an analytical formula that enables fast evaluation of the spectral window with a substantial reduction in scattering efficiency for sufficiently thin cylinder. This effect leads to tunable resonant invisibility that can be achieved via modification of graphene chemical potential monitored by the gate voltage. A multi-frequency cloaking mechanism based on dimer coated nanowires is also discussed.

We show that media with inhomogeneous defocusing cubic nonlinearity growing toward the periphery can support a variety of stable vortex clusters nested in a common localized envelope. Nonrotating symmetric clusters are built of an even number of vortices with opposite topological charges, located at equal distances from the origin. Rotation makes the clusters strongly asymmetric, as the centrifugal force shifts some vortices to the periphery, while others approach the origin, depending on the topological charge. We obtain such asymmetric clusters as stationary states in the rotating coordinate frame, identify their existence domains, and show that the rotation may stabilize some of them., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Optics Letters

Given any background (or seed) solution of the nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation, the Darboux transformation can be used to generate higher-order breathers with much greater peak intensities. The Darboux transformation is generic in iterating a pair of generating solutions of the Lax-pair equation which preserves the solution of the nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation as a consistency condition. The Darboux transformation itself knows nothing about the background solution except through the initial pair of Lax solutions. Because of this, in this work, we can prove in an unified manner, and without knowing the analytical form of the background solution, that the peak-height of a high-order breather, is just a sum of peak-heights of first-order breathers plus that of the background, {\it irrespective} of the specific choice of the background. Detailed results are verified for breathers on a cnoidal background. Generalizations to more extended nonlinear Schr\"odinger equations are also indicated., Comment: 19 pages and 6 figures, revised to include "Pythagorean triplet" of rogue waves

We establish a link between the fractional Schr\"odinger equation (FSE) and light propagation in the honeycomb lattice (HCL) - the Dirac-Weyl equation (DWE). The fractional Laplacian in FSE causes a modulation of the dispersion relation of the system, which in the limiting case becomes linear. In the HCL, the dispersion relation is already linear around the Dirac point, suggesting a possible connection with the FSE. Here, we demonstrate this connection by describing light propagation in both FSE and HCL, using DWE. Thus, we propagate Gaussian beams according to FSE, HCL around the Dirac point, and DWE, to discover very similar behavior - the conical diffraction. However, if an additional potential is brought into the system, the link between FSE and HCL is broken, because the added potential serves as a perturbation, which breaks the translational periodicity of HCL and destroys Dirac cones in the dispersion relation., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. Comments and criticisms are welcome (Yiqi Zhang: zhangyiqi@mail.xjtu.edu.cn)

The virial theorem is a nice property for the linear Schrodinger equation in atomic and molecular physics as it gives an elegant ratio between the kinetic and potential energies and is useful in assessing the quality of numerically computed eigenvalues. If the governing equation is a nonlinear Schrodinger equation with power-law nonlinearity, then a similar ratio can be obtained but there seems no way of getting any eigenvalue estimate. It is surprising as far as we are concerned that when the nonlinearity is either square-root or saturable nonlinearity (not a power-law), one can develop a virial theorem and eigenvalue estimate of nonlinear Schrodinger (NLS) equations in R2 with square-root and saturable nonlinearity, respectively. Furthermore, we show here that the eigenvalue estimate can be used to obtain the 2nd order term (which is of order $ln\Gamma$) of the lower bound of the ground state energy as the coefficient $\Gamma$ of the nonlinear term tends to infinity.

We report on transport properties of the super-honeycomb lattice, the band structure of which possesses a flat band and Dirac cones, according to the tight-binding approximation. This super-honeycomb model combines the honeycomb lattice and the Lieb lattice and displays the properties of both. The super-honeycomb lattice also represents a hybrid fermionic and bosonic system, which is rarely seen in nature. By choosing the phases of input beams properly, the flat-band mode of the super-honeycomb will be excited and the input beams will exhibit strong localization during propagation. On the other hand, if the modes of Dirac cones of the super-honeycomb lattice are excited, one will observe conical diffraction. Furthermore, if the input beam is properly chosen to excite a sublattice of the super-honeycomb lattice and the modes of Dirac cones with different pseudospins, e.g., the three-beam interference pattern, the pseudospin-mediated vortices will be observed., Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures. Comments and criticisms are welcome. Please contact Yiqi Zhang directly (zhangyiqi@mail.xjtu.edu.cn)

It is well known that Akhmediev breathers of the nonlinear cubic Schrodinger equation can be superposed nonlinearly via the Darboux transformation to yield breathers of higher order. Surprisingly, we find that the peak height of each Akhmediev breather only adds {\it linearly} to form the peak height of the final breather. Using this new peak-height formula, we show that at any given periodicity, there exist a unique high-order breather of maximal intensity. Moreover, these high-order breathers form a continuous hierarchy, growing in intensity with increasing periodicity. For any such higher-order breather, a simple initial wave function can be extracted from the Darboux transformation to dynamically generate that breather from the nonlinear Schrodinger equation., Comment: 6 double-column pages, 9 figures

We report solutions for solitons of the "accessible" type in globally nonlocal nonlinear media of fractional dimension (FD), viz., for self-trapped modes in the space of effective dimension $2

We investigate the coherent and incoherent nonparaxial Weber beams, theoretically and numerically. We show that the superposition of coherent self-accelerating Weber beams with transverse displacement cannot display the nonparaxial accelerating Talbot effect. The reason is that their lobes do not accelerate in unison, which is a requirement for the appearance of the effect. While for the incoherent Weber beams, they naturally cannot display the accelerating Talbot effect but can display the nonparaxial accelerating properties, although the transverse coherence length is smaller than the beam width, based on the second-order coherence theory. Our research method directly applies to the nonparaxial Mathieu beams as well, and one will obtain similar conclusions as for the Weber beams, although this is not discussed in the paper. Our investigation identifies families of nonparaxial accelerating beams that do not exhibit the accelerating Talbot effect, and in addition broadens the understanding of coherence properties of such nonparaxial accelerating beams., Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures; comments and criticisms are welcome

We report two new classes of face-centered photonic square lattices with flat bands which we call the Lieb-I and the Lieb-II lattices. There are 5 and 7 sites in the corresponding unit cells of the simplest Lieb-I and Lieb-II lattices, respectively. The number of flat bands $m$ in the new Lieb lattices is related to the number of sites $N$ in the unit cell by $m=(N-1)/2$. Physical properties of the lattices with even and odd number of flat bands are different. We also consider localization of light in such Lieb lattices. If the input beam excites the flat-band mode, it will not diffract during propagation, owing to the strong localization in the flat-band mode. For the Lieb-II lattice, we also find that the beam will oscillate and still not diffract during propagation, because of the intrinsic oscillating properties of certain flat-band modes. The period of oscillation is determined by the energy difference between the two flat bands. This study provides a new platform for the investigation of flat-band modes., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, comments and criticisms are welcome

We investigate the fractional Schr\"odinger equation with a periodic $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric potential. In the inverse space, the problem transfers into a first-order nonlocal frequency-delay partial differential equation. We show that at a critical point, the band structure becomes linear and symmetric in the one-dimensional case, which results in a nondiffracting propagation and conical diffraction of input beams. If only one channel in the periodic potential is excited, adjacent channels become uniformly excited along the propagation direction, which can be used to generate laser beams of high power and narrow width. In the two-dimensional case, there appears conical diffraction that depends on the competition between the fractional Laplacian operator and the $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric potential. This investigation may find applications in novel on-chip optical devices., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures; accepted by Laser & Photonics Reviews

We investigate controllable spatial modulation of circular autofocusing Airy beams, under action of different dynamic linear potentials, both theoretically and numerically. We introduce a novel treatment method in which the circular Airy beam is represented as a superposition of narrow azimuthally-modulated one-dimensional Airy beams that can be analytically treated. The dynamic linear potentials are appropriately designed, so that the autofocusing effect can either be weakened or even eliminated when the linear potential exerts a "pulling" effect on the beam, or if the linear potential exerts a "pushing" effect, the autofocusing effect can be greatly strengthened. Numerical simulations agree with the theoretical results very well., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures. accepted by Optics Express

We demonstrate the fractional Talbot effect of nonpraxial accelerating beams, theoretically and numerically. It is based on the interference of nonparaxial accelerating solutions of the Helmholtz equation in two dimensions. The effect originates from the interfering lobes of a superposition of the solutions that accelerate along concentric semicircular trajectories with different radii. Talbot images form along certain central angles, which are referred to as the Talbot angles. The fractional nonparaxial Talbot effect is obtained by choosing the coefficients of beam components properly. A single nonparaxial accelerating beam possesses duality --- it can be viewed as a Talbot effect of itself with an infinite or zero Talbot angle. These results improve the understanding of nonparaxial accelerating beams and the Talbot effect among them., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures

We investigate the propagation of one-dimensional and two-dimensional (1D, 2D) Gaussian beams in the fractional Schr\"odinger equation (FSE) without a potential, analytically and numerically. Without chirp, a 1D Gaussian beam splits into two nondiffracting Gaussian beams during propagation, while a 2D Gaussian beam undergoes conical diffraction. When a Gaussian beam carries linear chirp, the 1D beam deflects along the trajectories $z=\pm2(x-x_0)$, which are independent of the chirp. In the case of 2D Gaussian beam, the propagation is also deflected, but the trajectories align along the diffraction cone $z=2\sqrt{x^2+y^2}$ and the direction is determined by the chirp. Both 1D and 2D Gaussian beams are diffractionless and display uniform propagation. The nondiffracting property discovered in this model applies to other beams as well. Based on the nondiffracting and splitting properties, we introduce the Talbot effect of diffractionless beams in FSE., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures