PT Journal
AU Angles-Castillo, A
   Perez, A
   Roldan, E
TI Bright and dark solitons in a photonic nonlinear quantum walk: lessons from the continuum
SO New Journal of Physics
JI New J. Phys.
PY 2024
BP 023004
EP 16pp
VL 26
IS 2
DI 10.1088/1367-2630/ad1e24
LA English
DE quantum walks; soliton; non-linear optics
AB We propose a nonlinear quantum walk model inspired in a photonic implementation in which the polarization state of the light field plays the role of the coin-qubit. In particular, we take profit of the nonlinear polarization rotation occurring in optical media with Kerr nonlinearity, which allows to implement a nonlinear coin operator, one that depends on the state of the coin-qubit. We consider the space-time continuum limit of the evolution equation, which takes the form of a nonlinear Dirac equation. The analysis of this continuum limit allows us to gain some insight into the existence of different solitonic structures, such as bright and dark solitons. We illustrate several properties of these solitons with numerical calculations, including the effect on them of an additional phase simulating an external electric field.
ER