We study a four-level atomic system with electromagnetically induced transparency with giant chi(3) and chi(5) susceptibilities of opposite signs. This system will allow us to obtain multidimensional solitons and light condensates with surface tension properties analogous to those of usual liquids.

We demonstrate, through numerical simulations, the generation of stable vortex lattices in light condensates. This can be achieved by propagating several concentric laser beams with nested vortices of different topological charges in an optical material with a cubic-quintic nonlinearity. We have considered several initial conditions, and in all the cases the net topological charges of the resulting lattice is equal to the topological charge of the initial outer vortex. The lattice exhibits rotation similar to vortex motion in superfluids. These vortex arrays could be used to implement all-optical photonic crystal fibers. Our results also apply to Bose-Einstein condensates in the presence of three-body elastic interactions.

We show the possibility of producing matter-wave switching devices by using Manakov interactions between matter wave solitons in two-species Bose-Einstein Condensates (BEC). Our results establish the experimental parameters for three interaction regimes in two-species BECs: symmetric and asymmetric splitting, down-switching and up-switching. We have studied the dependence upon the initial conditions and the kind of interaction between the two components of the BECs.

We show the existence of square shaped optical vortices with a large value of the angular momentum hosted in finite size laser beams which propagate in nonlinear media with a cubic-quintic nonlinearity. The light profiles take the form of rings with sharp boundaries and variable sizes depending on the power carried. Our stability analysis shows that these light distributions remain stable when propagate, probably for unlimited values of the angular momentum, provided the hosting beam is wide enough. This happens if the peak amplitude approaches a critical value which only depends on the nonlinear refractive index of the material. A variational approach allows us to calculate the main parameters involved. Our results add extra support to the concept of surface tension of light beams that can be considered as a trace of the existence of a liquid of light.

Through numerical simulation, we have studied the nucleation and annihilation of two-dimensional optical vortex solitons hosted in finite size light beams. Our study covers a wide range of angular momentum l> or =1, also referred to as its topological charge. We demonstrate that surface tension of light beams prevents beam filamentation for a certain range of total reflection angles even if the hosted hole splits and decays into several vortices with lower values of l. We also discuss a mechanism for vortex nucleation starting from Gaussian beams that can be used for experimental purposes. Our work adds extra support to the idea that light beams in cubic-quintic nonlinear materials can undergo a phase transition from a photon gas to a liquid of light.