Nonlinear wave dynamics in photonic time crystals

Abstract

Maxwell's wave equation in the presence of a cubic nonlinearity and a periodically time-varying refractive index (a photonic time crystal) is reduced, for spatially monochromatic waves, to a nonlinear Mathieu equation. Near the principal momentum gap this equation admits an autonomous two-dimensional reduction whose complete Hamiltonian phase portrait can be obtained analytically. We derive the two homoclinic separatrices corresponding to temporally localised momentum gap solitons, identify the nonlinear centres and the critical Hamiltonian value $H_c$, and calculate the point of maximum linear parametric gain. We then consider spatially localised pulses and show how the nucleation of multiple spatiotemporal gap solitons can produce a broad supercontinuum in momentum space; for stronger seeds, transient extreme nonlinear localisation can accompany an abrupt additional broadening of this momentum spectrum. These results establish a direct connection between Floquet amplification, nonlinear saturation, homoclinic dynamics, and momentum space spectral broadening in nonlinear photonic time crystals.