Continuous families of non-Hermitian surface solitons

Abstract

We show that surface solitons form continuous families in one-dimensional complex optical potentials of a certain shape. This result is illustrated by non-Hermitian gap–surface solitons at the interface between a uniform conservative medium and a complex periodic potential. Surface soliton families are parameterized by a real propagation constant. The range of possible propagation constants is constrained by the relation between the continuous spectrum of the uniform medium and the bandgap structure of the periodic potential.