Light bullets in Su-Schrieffer-Heeger photonic topological insulators

We introduce a different class of thresholdless three-dimensional soliton states that form in higher-order topological insulators based on a two-dimensional Su-Schrieffer-Heeger array of coupled waveguides. The linear spectrum of such structures is characterized by the presence of a topological gap with corner states residing in them. We find that a focusing Kerr nonlinearity allows families of light bullets bifurcating from the linear corner states to exist as stable three-dimensional solitons, which inherit topological protection from their linear corner counterparts and, remarkably, survive even in the presence of considerable disorder. The light bullets exhibit a spatial localization degree that depends strongly on the array dimerization, and may feature large temporal widths in the topological gap near the bifurcation point, thus drastically reducing the otherwise strong instabilities caused by higher-order effects.

Automated summary

We introduce a new type of thresholdless three-dimensional soliton states in higher-order topological insulators based on a Su-Schrieffer-Heeger array of coupled waveguides. These structures have a topological gap with corner states in their linear spectrum. We find that a focusing Kerr nonlinearity allows stable three-dimensional solitons to exist, which inherit topological protection from the linear corner states and can survive in the presence of disorder. The spatial localization and temporal widths of these solitons depend on the array dimerization and they reduce instabilities caused by higher-order effects.