Gap solitons under competing local and nonlocal nonlinearities

We analyze the existence, bifurcations, and shape transformations of one-dimensional gap solitons (GSs) in the first finite band gap induced by a periodic potential built into materials with local self-focusing and nonlocal self-defocusing nonlinearities. Originally stable on-site GS modes become unstable near the upper edge of the band gap with the introduction of the nonlocal self-defocusing nonlinearity with a small nonlocality radius. Unstable off-site GSs bifurcate into a new branch featuring single-humped, double-humped, and flat-top modes due to the competition between local and nonlocal nonlinearities. The mechanism underlying the complex bifurcation pattern and cutoff effects (termination of some bifurcation branches) is illustrated in terms of the shape transformation under the action of the varying degree of the nonlocality. The results of this work suggest a possibility of optical-signal processing by means of the competing nonlocal and local nonlinearities.