Solitary wave formation under the interplay between spatial inhomogeneity and nonlocality

The presence of spatial inhomogeneity in a nonlinear medium restricts the formation of solitary waves (SW) on a discrete set of positions, whereas a nonlocal nonlinearity tends to smooth the medium response by averaging over neighboring points. The interplay of these antagonistic effects is studied in terms of SW formation and propagation. Formation dynamics is analyzed under a phase-space approach and analytical conditions for the existence of either discrete families of bright SW or continuous families of kink SW are obtained in terms of Melinikov's method. Propagation dynamics are studied numerically and cases of stable and oscillatory propagation as well as dynamical transformation between different types of SW are shown. The existence of different types and families of SW in the same configuration, under appropriate relations between their spatial width and power with the inhomogeneity and the nonlocality parameters, suggests an advanced functionality of such structures that is quite promising for applications.