Disorder-induced soliton transmission in nonlinear photonic lattices

We address soliton transmission and reflection in nonlinear photonic lattices embedded into uniform Kerr nonlinear media. We show that by introducing disorder into the guiding lattice channels, one may achieve soliton transmission even under conditions where regular lattices reflect the input beam completely. In contrast, in the parameter range in which the lattice is almost transparent for incoming solitons, disorder may induce a significant reflection. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America