Observation of dipolar transport in one-dimensional photonic lattices.

We experimentally study the transport properties of dipolar and fundamental modes on one dimensional (1D) coupled waveguide arrays. By carefully modulating a wide optical beam, we are able to effectively excite dipolar or fundamental modes to study discrete diffraction (single-site excitation) and gaussian beam propagation (multi-site excitation plus a phase gradient). We observe that dipolar modes experience a larger spreading area due to an effective larger coupling constant, which is found to be more than two times larger than the one for fundamental modes.

Transport of localized and extended excitations in chains embedded with randomly distributed linear and nonlinear n-mers.

We examine the transport of extended and localized excitations in one-dimensional linear chains populated by linear and nonlinear symmetric identical n-mers (with n=3, 4, 5, and 6), randomly distributed. First, we examine the transmission of plane waves across a single linear n-mer, paying attention to its resonances, and looking for parameters that allow resonances to merge. Within this parameter regime we examine the transmission of plane waves through a disordered and nonlinear segment composed by n-mers randomly placed inside a linear chain.

Localized modes in nonlinear binary kagome ribbons.

The localized mode propagation in binary nonlinear kagome ribbons is investigated with the premise to ensure controlled light propagation through photonic lattice media. Particularity of the linear system characterized by the dispersionless flat band in the spectrum is the opening of new minigaps due to the "binarism." Together with the presence of nonlinearity, this determines the guiding mode types and properties.

Observation of Localized States in Lieb Photonic Lattices.

We present the first experimental demonstration of a new type of localized state in the continuum, namely, compacton-like linear states in flat-band lattices. To this end, we employ photonic Lieb lattices, which exhibit three tight-binding bands, with one being perfectly flat. Discrete predictions are confirmed by realistic continuous numerical simulations as well as by direct experiments.

Bounded dynamics in finite PT-symmetric magnetic metamaterials.

We examine the PT-symmetry-breaking transition for a magnetic metamaterial of a finite extent, modeled as an array of coupled split-ring resonators in the equivalent circuit model approximation. Small-size arrays are solved completely in closed form, while for arrays larger than N=5 results were computed numerically for several gain and loss spatial distributions. In all cases, it is found that the parameter stability window decreases rapidly with the size of the array, until at N=20 approximately it is not possible to support a stable PT-symmetric phase.

Enhanced distribution of a wave-packet in lattices with disorder and nonlinearity.

We show, numerically and experimentally, that the presence of weak disorder results in an enhanced energy distribution of an initially localized wave-packet, in one- and two-dimensional finite lattices. The addition of a focusing nonlinearity facilitates the spreading effect even further by increasing the wave-packet effective size. We find a clear transition between the regions of enhanced spreading (weak disorder) and localization (strong disorder).