Snake-to-isola transition and moving solitons via symmetry-breaking in discrete optical cavities (Q2430218)

By introducing a phase gradient and a linear loss term, the authors investigate how the symmetry-breaking affect the snake-to-isola transition and the onset of moving solitons in a one-dimensional lattice model for an optical cavity. They point out a number of interesting features that occur in the discrete model but not in continuum systems. For small symmetry-breaking, there exist infinitely many stable solitons which are stationary in the discrete model while only stable moving solitons exist in continuum systems. As the symmetry-breaking increases, the soliton branch closes up to form an isola. For large enough symmetry-breaking, moving solitons come into existence and the branches exhibit hysteresis characteristics. The authors give explanations to such transitions.