Interaction of solitons with inhomogeneous defects in nonlocal nonlinear media

In this paper, we investigated the scattering behavior of solitons in nonlocal, nonlinear Kerr media with inhomogeneous defects by combining a variational approach with numerical simulations. Our extensive numerical simulations confirm the predictions made using the variational approach and demonstrate the robustness of the analytical model, allowing further exploration of soliton dynamics in complex media. The model correctly considers the key physics of defect–soliton interactions and exposes the conditions under which soliton trapping, reflection and transmission can be controlled for applications such as optical data processing and information transmission. Our results provide a new, in-depth understanding of soliton dynamics in general.