Double Loops and Pitchfork Symmetry Breaking Bifurcations of Optical Solitons in Nonlinear Fractional Schrödinger Equation with Competing Cubic‐Quintic Nonlinearities
Pengfei Li, Chao‐Qing Dai
Abstract
Abstract Symmetry breaking bifurcations of solitons are investigated in framework of a nonlinear fractional Schrödinger equation (NLFSE) with competing cubic‐quintic nonlinearity. Some prototypical characteristics of the symmetry breaking, featured by transformations of symmetric and antisymmetric soliton families into asymmetric ones, are found. Stable asymmetric solitons emerge from unstable symmetric and antisymmetric ones by way of two different symmetry breaking scenarios. A twisting branch, featured with double loops bifurcation, bifurcates off from the base branch of symmetric soliton solutions and crosses it, then merges into the base branch driven by the competitive nonlinear effect. A supercritical pitchfork bifurcation is bifurcated from the branch of antisymmetric soliton solutions and gives rise to a supercritical pitchfork bifurcation. Stability of the soliton families is explored by linear stability analysis. With the increase of the Lévy index, stability region induced by the twisting loops bifurcation is expanded. However, stability region of the pitchfork bifurcation is shrunk on the parameter plane of the Lévy index and the soliton power.