Abstract

Symmetry breaking of solitons in a class of one-dimensional parity-time ($P\mathcal{T}$) symmetric complex potentials with cubic nonlinearity is reported. In generic $P\mathcal{T}$-symmetric potentials, such symmetry breaking is forbidden. However, in a special class of $P\mathcal{T}$-symmetric potentials $V(x)=g^2(x)+\alpha g(x)+i{g}^{\prime }(x)$, where $g(x)$ is a real and even function and $\alpha$ a real constant, symmetry breaking of solitons can occur. That is, a branch of non-$P\mathcal{T}$-symmetric solitons can bifurcate out from the base branch of $P\mathcal{T}$-symmetric solitons when the base branch’s power reaches a certain threshold. At the bifurcation point, the base branch changes stability, and the bifurcated branch can be stable.

© 2014 Optical Society of America

Symmetry breaking with opposite stability between bifurcated asymmetric solitons in parity-time-symmetric potentials

Jianke Yang
Opt. Lett. 44(11) 2641-2644 (2019)

Partially PT symmetric optical potentials with all-real spectra and soliton families in multidimensions

Jianke Yang
Opt. Lett. 39(5) 1133-1136 (2014)

Gap solitons and symmetry breaking in parity-time symmetric microring coupled resonator optical waveguides

Pedro Chamorro-Posada
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 31(11) 2728-2735 (2014)

Symmetric and asymmetric solitons supported by a 𝒫𝒯-symmetric potential with saturable nonlinearity: bifurcation, stability and dynamics

Pengfei Li, Chaoqing Dai, Rujiang Li, and Yaqin Gao
Opt. Express 26(6) 6949-6961 (2018)

Symmetry-breaking bifurcations and ghost states in the fractional nonlinear Schrödinger equation with a PT-symmetric potential

Pengfei Li, Boris A. Malomed, and Dumitru Mihalache
Opt. Lett. 46(13) 3267-3270 (2021)