Disorder-enhanced nonlinear delocalization in segmented waveguide arrays

Abstract

Nonlinearity and disorder in discrete systems give rise to fascinating dynamics in various fields of physics. Photonic lattices allow investigation of them in an optical context. The very nature of discrete propagation allows perfect reconstruction of arbitrary initial wave packets by introducing phase shifts to specific lattice sites. We investigate, both numerically and experimentally, the interplay of nonlinearity with this so-called segmentation imaging in the presence of disorder.We find that whereas in the linear regime perfect imaging is achieved for arbitrary amounts of coupling disorder, the onset of nonlinear selffocusing generally destroys imaging. Interestingly, the influence of Anderson localization in strongly disordered lattices renders the imaging significantly more susceptible to nonlinear perturbations. © IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.