Year: 2010
Type: article
Abstract: We study the dynamics of coherent waves in nonlinear honeycomb lattices and show that nonlinearity breaks down the Dirac dynamics. As an example, we demonstrate that even a weak nonlinearity has major qualitative effects on one of the hallmarks of honeycomb lattices: conical diffraction. Under linear conditions, a circular input wave packet associated with the Dirac point evolves into a ring, but even a weak nonlinearity alters the evolution such that the emerging beam possesses triangular symmetry, and populates Bloch modes outside of the Dirac cone. Our results are presented in the context of optics, but we propose a scheme to observe equivalent phenomena in Bose-Einstein condensates.
Source: Physical Review A
Language: English
Topic: Nonlinear Photonic Systems
Subfield: Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2058404058