Steering and switching of soliton-like beams via interaction in a nanocolloid with positive polarizability

Abstract

We unveil different regimes for the interaction between two orthogonally polarized soliton-like beams in a colloidal suspension of nanoparticles with positive polarizability. The interaction is always attractive. However, it noticeably changes as a function of the angle and the power distribution between the input beams. For small angles, both interacting solitons fuse into a single entity, whose propagation direction can be continuously steered. As the interaction angle increases, the resulting self-collimated beam can be practically switched between two positions when the power imbalance between the beams is changed. For interaction angles larger than ~10°~10°, the result is no longer a single emerging soliton when the input power is balanced between the two beams.