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Two-dimensional Whittaker solitons in nonlocal nonlinear media

Article  in  Physical Review A · July 2008

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.78.013826

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 PHYSICAL REVIEW A 78, 013826 共2008兲

Two-dimensional Whittaker solitons in nonlocal nonlinear media

Wei-Ping Zhong,1 Milivoj Belić,2 Rui-Hua Xie,3,4,5,* and Goong Chen5

1
Department of Electronic Engineering, Shunde College, Guangdong Province, Shunde 528300, China
2
Texas A&M University at Qatar, P.O. Box 23874, Doha, Qatar
3
Department of Physics, Hubei University, Wuhan, Hubei 430062, China
4
Department of Applied Physics , Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
5
Department of Mathematics, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843 USA
共Received 25 January 2008; revised manuscript received 23 April 2008; published 18 July 2008兲
1Two-dimensional Whittaker solitons 共WSs兲 are introduced and investigated numerically in nonlocal non-
linear media. Different classes of stable and unstable higher-order spatial optical solitons are discovered among
the solutions of the generalized nonlocal nonlinear Schrödinger equation, in analogy with the linear Whittaker
eigenmodes of the quantum harmonic oscillator. Specific values of the modulation depth parameter for differ-
ent values of the topological charge are discussed. Our results reveal that in media with a Gaussian response
function higher-order spatial WSs can exist in various families, such as two-dimensional Gaussian solitons,
vortex-ring solitons, half-moon solitons, and symmetric and asymmetric single-layer and multilayer necklace
solitons. The stability of WSs is addressed numerically. We establish that two-dimensional Gaussian solitons
and vortex-ring solitons are stable, while other families of spatial WSs are unstable, although their stability can
be improved by moving into the strongly nonlocal regime.

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.78.013826 PACS number共s兲: 42.65.Tg, 42.65.Sf

I. INTRODUCTION The paper is organized as follows. In Sec. II we introduce

The recent surge of interest in the study of nonlocal opti-
cal solitons was initiated by a number of experimental obser-
vations and theoretical treatments of self-trapping effects and
spatial solitary waves in different types of nonlocal nonlinear
共NN兲 media 关1兴. Nonlocality is ubiquitous in nature and has
already been demonstrated in a diversity of nonlinear 共NL兲
media, such as atomic vapors 关2兴, nematic liquid crystals 关3兴,
photorefractive media 关4兴, Bose-Einstein condensates 关5兴,
and so on. Nonlocality has recently become important in NL
optics 关6–14兴. Studies of spatially nonlocal nonlinearities
have revealed a number of interesting effects 关7–13兴. Perhaps
most importantly, nonlocality tends to suppress modulational
instability of plane waves propagating in self-focusing me-
the two-dimensional 共2D兲 WS model in NN media. Different
families of WSs, investigated numerically, are presented in
Sec. III. Section IV gives the conclusions.
II. THE NONLOCAL NONLINEAR WS MODEL
We consider the propagation of optical beams in a NN
medium in the paraxial approximation, described by the gen-
eralized nonlocal nonlinear Schrödinger equation 共NNSE兲
关8,11–14兴 for the scalar electric field envelope u共r៝ , z兲:
⳵u 1 2
i + ⵜ u + N共I兲共r៝,z兲u = 0, 共1兲
⳵z 2 ⬜

冕 冕
dia. It is well known that localized multidimensional waves
+⬁ +⬁
in media with a focusing nonlinearity may exhibit cata-
N共I兲共r៝,z兲 = R共r៝ − r៝⬘兲兩u共r៝⬘,z兲兩2dr៝⬘ , 共2兲
strophic collapse over finite propagation distances. Nonlocal- −⬁ −⬁
ity can prevent beam collapse and stabilize multidimensional
solitons 关10–14兴. where z and r៝ = 共x , y兲 are the dimensionless propagation dis-
In this paper, starting from a set of linear Whittaker tance and the transverse position vector, respectively. In po-
modes, we construct higher-order spatial solitons in NN me- lar coordinates the transverse Laplacian is

冉 冊
dia, in the form of Whittaker solitons 共WSs兲. We display
1 ⳵ ⳵ 1 ⳵2
different possible WS families: Gaussian solitons, vortex- ⵜ⬜
2
= r + 2 2,
ring solitons, half-moon solitons, and symmetric and asym- r ⳵r ⳵r r ⳵␸
metric single-layer and multilayer necklace solitons. We find where ␸ is the azimuthal angle and r2 = x2 + y 2. The nonlin-
that some classes of WSs display well-defined symmetry and earity N共I兲共r៝ , z兲 is represented in a general nonlocal form,
give rise to stable solitons, while others display unstable be- with R共r៝ − r៝⬘兲 being the medium response function and I
havior typical of multidimensional soliton clusters 关9兴, al- = 兩u共r៝⬘ , z兲兩2 the beam intensity. Some general statements
though their stability may be improved. Our conclusions on about the NNSE follow from this general form of the re-
enhanced stability are based on numerical study. More de- sponse function.
finitive answers must await more thorough analysis, which is In the limit when the response function is the delta func-
beyond the scope of this contribution. tion R共r៝ − r៝⬘兲 = ␦共r៝ − r៝⬘兲, the nonlinearity becomes propor-
tional to the intensity distribution, N共I兲共r៝ , z兲 = 兩u共r៝ , z兲兩2, and
we recover the local limit of the NNSE, i.e., the simple non-
*Corresponding author. Email: rhxie@physics.tamu.edu linear SE. In the opposite limit, when the response function

1050-2947/2008/78共1兲/013826共7兲 013826-1 ©2008 The American Physical Society

ZHONG et al. PHYSICAL REVIEW A 78, 013826 共2008兲

un0
is much broader than the intensity distribution, the nonlinear- 1
n1
ity becomes proportional to the response function, N共I兲 0.5
= PR共rជ兲, where P is the beam power. In this strongly nonlo- n3
r








cal limit the NNSE becomes the linear SE with a given 1 2 3 4 5 6 w0
n5
potential. Assuming that the intensity distribution is peaked -0.5
at the origin one can expand the response function about the
origin to obtain N共I兲共r៝ , z兲 = P共R0 + r2R2兲. In this case the -1

a
NNSE becomes the SE for the quantum harmonic oscillator,
admitting the so-called accessible solitons as solutions 关6兴.
Recently, we have shown that the strongly nonlocal SE 1 1 1
u 6 u 6 u 6
also possesses the following exact self-similar 2D soliton 0
-0.5
0
-0.5
0
-0.5
-6
6 0 y -6
6 0 y -6
6 0 y
solutions 关15兴: 0 0 0
x x x
6-6 6-6 6-6

kP
unm共z,r, ␸兲 = 关cos共m␸兲 + iq sin共m␸兲兴Wnm共␪兲e ia共z兲
,
r冑w0 6 6 6
4 4 4
共3兲 2
0
2
0
2
0

y
-2 -2 -2
-4 -4 -4
where k = 关n ! / ⌫共n + m + 1兲兴1/2, a共z兲 = a0 − 2nz / w20, a0 -6
-6-4-2 0 2 4 6
-6
-6-4-2 0 2 4 6
-6
-6-4-2 0 2 4 6
= 兩a共z兲兩z=0, and ␪ = r / w0. The parameter m is a real constant,
2 2 x x x

called the vorticity or the topological charge 关14兴, n is a
b

6 6 6
non-negative integer, and w0 is the initial beamwidth. The 4 4 4
parameter q 共0 ⱕ q ⱕ 1兲 determines the modulation depth of 2
0
2
0
2
0

y
the beam intensity 关15兴. Wnm共␪兲 are the Whittaker functions, -2
-4
-2
-4
-2
-4
defined as 关16兴 -6
-6-4-2 0 2 4 6
-6
-6-4-2 0 2 4 6
-6
-6-4-2 0 2 4 6
x x x

冕 冉 冊
6 6 6
⬁
e−␪/2␪n ␶ n−1/2+2m 4 4 4

冉 冊
Wnm共␪兲 = ␶−n−1/2+2m 1 + e −␶d ␶ , 2 2 2
1 ␪ 0 0 0
y

y
0 -2 -2 -2
⌫ − n + 2m -4 -4 -4
2 -6
-6-4-2 0 2 4 6
-6
-6-4-2 0 2 4 6
-6
-6-4-2 0 2 4 6
x x x
共4兲

c

6 6 6
where ⌫ is the Gamma function. In the argument of the 4
2
4
2
4
2
Gamma function it is assumed that n − 1 / 2 − 2m ⱕ 0. Being 0 0 0
y

y
-2 -2 -2
solutions to the linear SE, the self-similar WS functions -4
-6
-4
-6
-4
-6
unm共z , r , ␸兲 are stable solutions that do not experience beam -6-4-2 0 2 4 6
x
-6-4-2 0 2 4 6
x
-6-4-2 0 2 4 6
x
collapse. In analogy with these solutions, we are looking for 6 6 6
the WS solutions of Eq. 共1兲 with enhanced stability, in 4
2
4
2
4
2
the form u共z , r , ␸兲 = rm⌽共␸兲V共z , r兲, where ⌽ = cos共m␸兲 0 0 0
y

-2 -2 -2
+ iq sin共m␸兲. Such a choice in the azimuthal function depen- -4
-6
-4
-6
-4
-6
-6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6
dence allows for more freedom in the characterization of x x x
possible soliton solutions. In this case Eq. 共1兲 acquires the
d

following form:
FIG. 1. 共Color online兲 Gaussian WS family 共m = 0兲. 共a兲 Depen-

i + 冉
⳵ V 1 ⳵ V 2m + 1 ⳵ V
⳵ z 2 ⳵ r2
2
+
r ⳵r
冊 dence along the radial direction, depicting the positions of zero
points 共unm = 0兲 and extremal points 共dunm / dr = 0兲 for three values
of n. 共b兲 Optical field distributions at the initial propagation distance

+ V兩⌽兩2 冕 冕
+⬁

−⬁
+⬁

−⬁
R共r៝ − r៝⬘兲兩V共r៝⬘,z兲兩2rជ⬘2mdr៝⬘ = 0. 共5兲
At this point one has to specify the response function. Dif-
ferent possibilities exist, depending on the physical situation
关11兴. As long as the response function is real, symmetric,
positive, and monotonically decaying, the physical properties
of solutions do not strongly depend on the shape of the re-
sponse function 关14兴. We therefore choose the Gaussian re-
sponse R共r៝ − r៝⬘兲 = 共1 / ␲␴2兲e−共r៝ − r៝⬘兲 /␴ for its relevance in NL
2 2
optics 关11–14兴 and ease of manipulation, and because it of-
fers stable solutions 关12,13兴. The width ␴ of the Gaussian
z = 0 共top row兲 and a view from above 共bottom row兲. Here the pa-
rameter n has the values 1, 3, and 5 from left to right. 共c兲,共d兲 Views
at these field distributions from directly above, at different propa-
gation distances z = 10, 100, from top to bottom. In 共c兲 ␴ = 1, P = 1
and in 共d兲 ␴ = 100, P = 100.
controls the nonlocality. When ␴ → 0, we recover the local
Kerr model. In this paper we assume ␴ = 1 and P = 1. This
does not mean that we are in the strongly nonlocal regime,
because this also depends on the width and the height of the
presumed solution V; however, by a judicious choice of the
numerical procedure one can find stable solutions. It is our

013826-2
TWO-DIMENSIONAL WHITTAKER SOLITONS IN… PHYSICAL REVIEW A 78, 013826 共2008兲

un1

0.5 0.1 0.1

u 0 6 0.1
u 6 u 6
n1 0 0
n5 -0.1 -0.1
-6
6 0 y -6
6 0 y 6
-6 0 y
r







0 0 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 w0 x x x
6-6 6-6 6-6
n3

-0.5
6 6 6

a 4 4 4
2 2 2
0 0 0

y
1 0.6 0.4 -2 -2 -2
u 6 u 6 u 6 -4 -4 -4
0 0 0 -6 -6 -6
-0.5 -0.2 -0.1 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6
-6
6 0 y -6
6 0 y -6
6 0 y
x x x
0 0 0
a
x x x
6-6 6-6 6-6
6 6 6
4 4 4
2 2 2
6 6 6 0 0 0

y
4 4 4 -2 -2 -2
2 2 2 -4 -4 -4
0 0 0 -6 -6 -6
y

-6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6

-2 -2 -2 x x x
-4 -4 -4 6 6 6
-6 -6 -6 4 4 4
-6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6
x x x 2 2 2
0 0 0

y

b
-2 -2 -2
6 6 6 -4 -4 -4
4 4 4 -6 -6 -6
-6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6
2 2 2 x x x
0 0 0
y

b
-2 -2 -2
-4 -4 -4 6 6 6
-6 -6 -6 4 4 4
-6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 2 2 2
x x x y 0 0 0

y
6 6 6 -2 -2 -2
4 4 4 -4 -4 -4
2 2 2 -6 -6 -6
0 0 0 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6
y

x x x
-2 -2 -2
-4 -4 -4 6 6 6
-6 -6 -6 4 4 4
-6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 2 2 2
x x x 0 0 0
y

y

c -2 -2 -2
-4 -4 -4
6 6 6 -6 -6 -6
4 4 4 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6
2 2 2 x x x
0 0 0
y

c
-2 -2 -2
-4 -4 -4
-6 -6 -6
-6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 FIG. 3. 共Color online兲 Modulational instability of the half-moon
x x x
soliton family, for m = 1 / 2 and q = 0. Figure layout is as in Figs.
6 6 6
4 4 4 1共b兲–1共d兲. 共a兲 Optical field distribution at z = 0. 共b兲,共c兲 Views from
2 2 2
0 0 0 directly above at different propagation distances z = 10, 100, from
y

-2 -2 -2
-4 -4 -4 top to bottom. In 共b兲 ␴ = 1, P = 1 and in 共c兲 ␴ = 100, P = 100. The
-6 -6 -6
-6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 parameter n has the values n = 1 , 3 , 5 from left to right in each
x x x
figure.

d

FIG. 2. 共Color online兲 Vortex-ring WS family without the com-

plex function ⌽共␸兲. The figure setup is as in Fig. 1. Here the pa-
rameters have the values m = 1, q = 1, and n = 1 , 3 , 5. Again, the two
unm共0,r, ␸兲 =
r冑w0
kP
关cos共m␸兲 + iq sin共m␸兲兴Wnm 冉 冊 r2 ia
w20
e 0,
rows in 共c兲 and 共d兲 present the view from directly above at the given 共6兲
field distributions, at the propagation distances z = 10, 100. In 共c兲
␴ = 1, P = 1 and in 共d兲 ␴ = 100, P = 100.
and also for w0 = 1, a0 = 0, we obtain the propagating WS
solutions to Eq. 共5兲. Note that such a choice of the initial
experience that by choosing larger values of ␴ and P, i.e., by optical field allows the possibility of having propagating
moving deeper into the nonlocal regime, the stability of nu- fields with fractional topological charges m, provided the
merical solutions improves. parameter q is chosen accordingly. Such a possibility has
To find stationary soliton solutions of Eq. 共5兲, we resort to recently been discussed theoretically 关18兴 and demonstrated
a variational numerical procedure described in detail in 关17兴. experimentally 关19兴. In Figs. 1–5 we present contour plots of
By choosing initial conditions that are consistent with the the real optical field u distributions in 2D, for some specific
linear WS solutions values of the above parameters. We also compare the results
for ␴ = 1 and P = 1 with the ones for ␴ = 100 and P = 100, to
ascertain the improvement in stability.

013826-3
ZHONG et al. PHYSICAL REVIEW A 78, 013826 共2008兲

0.4 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.3

u 6 u 6 u 6 u 6 u 6 u 6
0 0 0 0 0 0
-0.2 -0.2 -0.2 -0.1 -0.1 -0.1
-6
6 0 y -6
6 0 y -6
6 0 y -6 0 y -6 0 y -6 0 y
0 0 0 0 0 0
x x x x x x
6-6 6-6 6-6 6 -6 6 -6 6 -6

6 6 6 6 6 6
4 4 4 4 4 4
2 2 2 2 2 2
0 0 0

y
0 0 0
y

y
-2 -2 -2
-2 -2 -2
-4 -4 -4
-4 -4 -4 -6 -6 -6
-6 -6 -6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6
-6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6
x x x x x x

a

d

4 4
2 2
0 0
y
4 6 6 6
2 4 4 4
2 2 2
0

0 0 0

y
-2 -2 -2 -2 -2 -2
-4 -4 -4 -4 -4 -4
-4 -2 0 2 4 -4 -2 0 2 4 -4 -2 0 2 4 -6 -6 -6
-6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6
x x x x x x
4 4 4 6 6 6
2 2 2 4 4 4
2 2 2
0 0 0
y

0 0 0

y
-2 -2 -2 -2 -2 -2
-4 -4 -4 -4 -4 -4
-4 -2 0 2 4 -4 -2 0 2 4 -4 -2 0 2 4 -6 -6 -6
-6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6
x x x x x x

e

b

4 4 4 6 6 6
4 4 4
2 2 2 2 2 2
0 0 0 y 0 0 0

y
y

-2 -2 -2
-2 -2 -2 -4 -4 -4
-4 -4 -4 -6 -6 -6
-4 -2 0 2 4 -4 -2 0 2 4 -4 -2 0 2 4 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6
x x x x x x
4 4 4 6 6 6
4 4 4
2 2 2 2 2 2
0 0 0 0 0 0
y

y
y

-2 -2 -2 -2 -2 -2
-4 -4 -4
-4 -4 -4 -6 -6 -6
-4 -2 0 2 4 -4 -2 0 2 4 -4 -2 0 2 4 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6
x x x x x x

C
f

FIG. 4. 共Color online兲 Symmetric multipole soliton distributions for different parameters. Rows in 共a兲 and 共d兲 depict optical field
distributions at z = 0 and the two rows in 共b兲,共c兲 and 共e兲,共f兲 represent vertical views from above, for the propagation distances z = 10, 100 from
top to bottom. In 共b兲 and 共e兲 ␴ = 1, P = 1 and in 共c兲 and 共f兲 ␴ = 100, P = 100. The parameters are as follows: 共a兲–共c兲 n = 0; 共d兲–共f兲 n = 3. m
= 3 , 5 , 7 from left to right, in all the figures.

III. FAMILIES OF 2D SPATIAL WHITTAKER SOLITONS
A. Gaussian solitons and vortex-ring solitons
Figure 1 presents the stable Gaussian WS family 共m = 0兲
and Fig. 2 the stable vortex-ring soliton family 共q = 1 , m
⫽ 0兲 for different values of n. Figure 1共a兲 depicts the radial
dependence, including the positions of the zero points 共unm
= 0兲 and the extreme points 共dunm / dr = 0兲 of the Gaussian
WS. Figure 1共b兲 presents the optical field distributions at the
initial propagation distance z = 0. The two rows in Figs. 1共c兲
and 1共d兲 display the view from directly above at the distri-
butions from Fig. 1共b兲, taken at different propagation dis-
tances z = 10, 100, for ␴ = 1, P = 1 and for ␴ = 100, P = 100,
respectively. The distances z are given in units of the diffrac-
tion length. Not much change is evident in the distributions
at different z, indicating stable propagation. It is seen that
there exist n zero points and n + 1 extreme points along the
radial direction. The bright spots or rings in Figs. 1共c兲 and
1共d兲 represent the positive extreme values, while the dark
rings represent the negative extreme values. The maximum
optical field is located at the center point. The layout of Fig.
2 is the same as that of Fig. 1. The optical field u of the
vortex-ring WS is shown excluding the azimuthal complex
function ⌽共␸兲. Similarly, there are n + 1 zero points and n
+ 1 extreme points along the radial direction. Again, the
bright ring represents the positive extreme points, while the
dark spots and rings represent the negative extreme points.
The field at the center point is zero, which is also the position
of the topological defect. The optical fields of these two
classes of solitons are radially symmetric and attenuated. We
find that the 2D Gaussian WS’s and the vortex-ring WS’s
can propagate stably in NN media, our results being consis-
tent with those of Ref. 关14兴 in the highly nonlocal case.
B. Half-moon solitons
Next, when m ⫽ 0 but q = 0 共−1 / 4 ⱕ m ⬍ 1兲, we observe
the asymmetric half-moon WS family. The name describes
the shape of the distribution. For the parameter values con-
sidered here, the half-moon solitons display modulational in-

013826-4
TWO-DIMENSIONAL WHITTAKER SOLITONS IN… PHYSICAL REVIEW A 78, 013826 共2008兲

0.3 0.3 0.3

u 5 u 5u 5 0.2 0.2 0.2
u 6 u 6 u 6
0 0 0 0 0 0
-0.1 -0.1 -0.1
-5
5 0 y -5
5 0 y 5
-5 0 y -0.1 -0.1 -0.1
-6
6 0 y -6
6 0 y -6
6 0 y
0 0 0
x x x 0 0 0
5-5 5-5 5-5 x x x
6-6 6-6 6-6

4 4 4 6 6 6
2 2 2 4 4 4
2 2 2
0 0 0
y

y
y

0 0 0

y
-2 -2 -2 -2 -2 -2
-4 -4 -4 -4 -4 -4
-4 -2 0 2 4 -4 -2 0 2 4 -4 -2 0 2 4 -6 -6 -6
-6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6
x x x x x x

a

d

6 6 6
6 6 6
4 4 4
4 4 4
2 2 2
2 2 2
0 0 0
y

0 0 0

y
-2 -2 -2
-2 -2 -2
-4 -4 -4
-4 -4 -4
-6 -6 -6
-6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6 -6 -6
-6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6
x x x
x x x
6 6 6
6 6 6
4 4 4
4 4 4
2 2 2
2 2 2
0 0 0
y

0 0 0

y
-2 -2 -2
-2 -2 -2
-4 -4 -4
-4 -4 -4
-6 -6 -6
-6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6 -6 -6
-6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6
x x x
x x x

b
e

6 6 6 6 6 6
4 4 4 4 4 4
2 2 2 2 2 2
0 0 0 0 0 0
y

y
y

-2 -2 -2 -2 -2 -2
-4 -4 -4 -4 -4 -4
-6 -6 -6
-6 -6 -6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6
-6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6
x x x x x x
6 6 6 6 6 6
4 4 4 4 4 4
2 2 2 2 2 2
0 0 0 0 0 0
y

y
-2 -2 -2 -2 -2 -2
-4 -4 -4 -4 -4 -4
-6 -6 -6
-6 -6 -6
-6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6 -6-4-2 0 2 4 6
x x x x x x

C
f

FIG. 5. 共Color online兲 Asymmetric multipole soliton distributions for different parameters. The figure layout is as in Fig. 4. The
parameters are as follows: 共a兲–共c兲 n = 0; 共d兲–共f兲 n = 3; and m = 3 / 2 , 5 / 2 , 7 / 2 from left to right, in each figure.

stability. Figure 3 depicts the shapes of typical half-moon comes much more stable, although with slight diffraction
solitons for q = 0, m = 1 / 2, and different n. As seen, the half- visible in Fig. 3共c兲.
moon soliton is stratified in a circular arrangement, because
of the cosine azimuthal dependence. Bright regions represent
C. Symmetric multipole solitons
positive optical field 共un1/2 ⬎ 0兲, while dark regions represent
negative optical field 共un1/2 ⬍ 0兲. The uniform gray is zero. When m ⬎ 0 is an integer and q = 0, we obtain symmetric
The innermost layer is a bright spot. The half-moon soliton multipole solitons, including the symmetric single-layer and
alternates bright regions and dark regions from inside to out- multilayer necklace solitons. Their initial distributions again
side along any radial direction, except along the negative real come from the linear WS modes at z = 0. With propagation,
axis, where it is 0. The number of layers is decided by n and they experience strong modulational instabilities. Figure 4
there are n + 1 layers. At the initial stage 共z = 0兲, the solitons depicts some illustrative examples. We note that these soliton
display the standard half-moon shape, since the numerical families possess adjacent alternating bright and dark regions
solutions come from the linear WS modes. With propagation along the azimuthal angle. For n = 0 the optical field at z = 0
关Fig. 3共b兲兴 we observe that at z = 10 the WSs break up into along the radial direction has only one layer, and the WSs
two out-of-phase parts, each similar to the initial half-moon form symmetric single-layer necklace solitons. With increas-
distribution. At z = 100 these soliton distributions become ing propagation distance these WS families become strongly
two irregular half-moon solitons. The larger the parameter n, asymmetric. The number of bright 共or dark兲 spots decreases,
the greater the half-moon WS deformation with the propaga- and the adjacent bright 共or dark兲 spots overlap and merge
tion distance, signifying strong modulational instabilities. along the azimuthal angle, as seen at z = 100 关Fig. 4共b兲兴.
However, if larger values of ␴ and P are chosen, i.e., ␴ For n ⬎ 0 we observe symmetric multilayer necklace
= 100 and P = 100, the propagation of half-moon solitons be- WSs. At z = 0 they form adjacent alternating bright and dark

013826-5
ZHONG et al.
regions along the radial direction as well. There are n + 1
layers, and the maximum optical field is located at the out-
side layer along the radial direction. The number of regions
in each layer is decided by m, and the layer number is de-
cided by n. The symmetric multipole soliton families have
2m共n + 1兲 regions, one-half of these being bright and the
other half dark. As shown in Fig. 4共e兲, with increase in the
propagation distance the symmetric multipole WS families
experience a symmetry-breaking instability and merging
phenomena for increasing m. For m = 7, as can be seen in the
bottom rows, the number of bright and dark regions and their
contrast are reduced with increasing propagation distance.
They still have n + 1 layers along the radial direction, but
become asymmetric multipole solitons, with a decreasing
number of bright and dark regions. However, the stability of
symmetric necklace WSs is greatly improved, i.e., they
propagate stably and without merging for longer, if larger
values of ␴ and P are chosen. This is clearly seen in Figs.
4共c兲 and 4共f兲.
D. Asymmetric multipole solitons
In the limit q = 0 and when m ⬎ 1 is a rational number, we
observe asymmetric multipole soliton families. For m we
pick half-integer values, because theoretical studies 关18兴 sug-
gested an interesting dynamical behavior there. These asym-
metric multipole WSs contain asymmetric single-layer and
multilayer necklace solitons. In Fig. 5 we present some ex-
amples of the asymmetric necklace solitons in propagation.
Interesting structures are seen, in that the distributions
change regularly with the azimuthal angle, according to a
cos m␸ dependence. When m is large enough, the asymmet-
ric bright and dark regions form a necklace soliton ring.
These solitons form adjacent alternating bright and dark
spots along the radial direction. There are n + 1 layers, and
the maximum optical field is located at the outside layer
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013826-6
PHYSICAL REVIEW A 78, 013826 共2008兲
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IV. CONCLUSION
We have introduced and analyzed numerically the exis-
tence and the stability of WSs in NN media. These higher-
order solitons are obtained as a generalization of the Whit-
taker linear modes in the case of the Gaussian response
function. High-order spatial WSs exist in different families,
such as two-dimensional Gaussian solitons, vortex-ring soli-
tons, half-moon solitons, and symmetric and asymmetric
single-layer and multilayer necklace solitons. We find that
the 2D Gaussian WS and the vortex-ring WS are stable,
while the other families of WSs are unstable. The stability of
unstable families can be improved by moving deeper into the
strongly nonlocal regime.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Work in China is supported by the National Science Foun-
dation of China under Grant No. 2006CB921605 and the
Science Research Foundation of Shunde College, China.
Work at Texas A&M University at Qatar is supported by the
Qatar National Research Foundation Project No. NPRP 25-
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