A comprehensive study on beam dynamics inside symmetrically chirped waveguide array mimicking the graded index media (2506.00901v1)

Abstract: In this article we theoretically investigate the beam dynamics inside symmetrically chirped nonlinear waveguide arrays, while taking into account two different chirping schemes, namely linear and quadratic. We propose realistic structure of chirped waveguide array that opens up new avenues in controlling the light flow. The beam dynamics inside such waveguides are modeled by adopting a continuous approximation of the discrete nonlinear Schrodinger equation (DNLSE) that usually governs the beam propagating in a discrete system which facilitates us in applying the semi-analytical variational method to grasp the beam dynamics. Our analytical treatment reveals that the symmetrically chirped waveguide array unambiguously mimics the graded index system where coupling coefficient with transverse variation play an equivalent role to that of the refractive index in continuous dispersive media. Exploiting the results of variational treatment we obtain state solutions and examine their robustness from the linear stability analysis. We reveal, that a symmetrically chirped waveguide array offers an oscillatory path for an input Gaussian beam exactly like a parabolic index media, along with self-focusing and imaging of the beam under Kerr-nonlinearity. We demonstrate that, under nonlinearity, discrete solitons with sech-type shape are formed. These discrete solitons are robust and flow inside the waveguide array with an unique oscillatory trajectory as exactly predicted in our theoretical calculations. We perform a rigorous analysis to unfold the propagation characteristics of the beams in both linear and nonlinear regimes in the proposed systems and validate our results with full numerical simulations. Our investigation shed light on the complex dynamics of an optical beam and its manipulation inside a geometrically engineered chirped waveguide array.