Soliton percolation in random optical lattices

Abstract

We introduce soliton percolation phenomena in the nonlinear transport of light packets in suitable optical lattices with random properties. Specifically, we address lattices with a gradient of the refractive index in the transverse plane, featuring stochastic phase or amplitude fluctuations, and we discover the existence of a disorder-induced transition between soliton-insulator and soliton-conductor regimes. The soliton current is found to reach its maximal value at intermediate disorder levels and to drastically decrease in both, almost regular and strongly disordered lattices.