We demonstrate that stabilization of solitons of the multidimensional Schrödinger equation with a cubic nonlinearity may be achieved by a suitable periodic control of the nonlinear term. The effect of this control is to stabilize the unstable solitary waves which belong to the frontier between expanding and collapsing solutions and to provide an oscillating solitonic structure, some sort of breather-type solution. We obtain precise conditions on the control parameters to achieve the stabilization and compare our results with accurate numerical simulations of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation. Because of the application of these ideas to matter waves these solutions are some sort of matter breathers.

Abstract. The method of moments in the context of Nonlinear Schrödinger Equations relies on defining a set of integral quantities, which characterize the solution of this partial differential equation and whose evolution can be obtained from a set of ordinary differential equations. In this paper we find all cases in which the method of moments leads to closed evolution equations, thus extending and unifying previous works in the field of applications. For some cases in which the method fails to provide rigorous information we also develop approximate methods based on it, which allow to get some approximate information on the dynamics of the solutions of the Nonlinear Schrödinger equation.

In this Letter, we introduce the concept of stabilized vector solitons as nonlinear waves constructed by the addition of mutually incoherent fractions of Townes solitons that are stabilized under the effect of a periodic modulation of the nonlinearity. We analyze the stability of these new kinds of structures and describe their behavior and formation in Manakov-like interactions. Potential applications of our results in Bose-Einstein condensation and nonlinear optics are also discussed.

We study numerically stabilized solutions of the two-dimensional Schrödinger equation with a cubic nonlinearity. We discuss in detail the numerical scheme used and explain why choosing the right numerical strategy is very important to avoid misleading results. We show that stabilized solutions are Townes solitons, a fact which had only been conjectured previously. Also we make a systematic study of the parameter regions in which these structures exist.

In this letter we demonstrate the possibility of stabilizing beams with angular momentum propagating in Kerr media. Large propagation distances without filamentation can be achieved in layered media with alternating focusing and defocusing nonlinearities. Stronger stabilization can be obtained with the addition of an incoherent beam.