Interface solitons in two-dimensional photonic lattices

Abstract

We analyze localization of light at the interface separating square and hexagonal photonic lattices, as recently realized experimentally in two-dimensional laser-written waveguide arrays in silica glass with self-focusing nonlinearity [A. Szameit {\em et al.}, Opt. Lett. {\bf 33}, 663 (2008)]. We reveal the conditions for the existence of {\em linear} and {\em nonlinear} surface states substantially influenced by the lattice topology, and study the effect of the different symmetries and couplings on the stability of two-dimensional interface solitons.