Surface lattice kink solitons

Abstract

We predict theoretically that surface of an optical lattice imprinted in defocusing nonlinear media can support shock, or kink waves. Such new surface waves contain a modulationally stable pedestal and are strongly localized at the edge of the optical lattice due to Bragg-type reflection. The kink steepness and localization degree can be controlled by the lattice depth. We found two types of kinks, which exhibit distinct stability properties for each finite gap in the lattice spectrum. Our findings open the way to experimental observation of optical surface kink waves.