Collisions and fusion of one- and two-dimensional solitons driven by potential troughs in the cubic–quintic nonlinear Schrödinger equations

We study the formation and collision of 1D (one-dimensional) and 2D (two-dimensional) Gaussian-shaped and flat-top (FT) solitons in the framework of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation with the cubic-quintic nonlinearity and two intersecting potential troughs. We find that Gaussian-Gaussian and Gaussian-FT collisions between the solitons, steered by the troughs, are quasi-elastic, while the collisions between FT solitons may be either quasi-elastic or inelastic, in the form of merger into a single FT soliton, thus spontaneously breaking the symmetry between the steering troughs. The Gaussian-FT collisions, being overall quasi-elastic, generate weak radiation fields.