Chiral solitary waves in a nonlinear topological insulator model

Abstract

An outstanding challenge in the field of topological insulators is the realization of nonlinear systems that support coherent traveling waves. Highly nonlinear lattices can suffer from significant radiation losses due to Peierls-Nabarro effects. In this work a nonlinear tight-binding model that supports robust traveling edge states is proposed and examined. This system possess a nontrivial local Chern topology and soliton-like states. When a traveling solitary wave collides with a stationary mode, the two are observed to interact inelastically. These results suggest future directions for the modeling, realization, and application of nonlinear Chern insulators.