Three-dimensional hybrid vortex solitons

We show, by means of numerical and analytical methods, that media with a repulsive nonlinearity which grows from the center to the periphery support a remarkable variety of previously unknown complex stationary and dynamical three-dimensional (3D) solitary-wave states. Peanut-shaped modulation profiles give rise to vertically symmetric and antisymmetric vortex states, and novel stationary hybrid states , built of top and bottom vortices with opposite topological charges, as well as robust dynamical hybrids , which feature stable precession of a vortex on top of a zero-vorticity soliton. The analysis reveals stability regions for symmetric, antisymmetric, and hybrid states. In addition, bead-shaped modulation profiles give rise to the first example of exact analytical solutions for stable 3D vortex solitons. The predicted states may be realized in media with a controllable cubic nonlinearity, such as Bose–Einstein condensates.