Transverse Localization of Light in 1D Self-Focusing Parity-Time-Symmetric Optical Lattices

Transverse localization of light is investigated numerically in a self-focusing Kerr medium with a complex-valued optical lattice featuring parity-time symmetry. It is demonstrated that the light localization exists below the threshold of the spatial frequency of the lattices, and is further enhanced with the decrease of the spatial frequency. The influence of defects on the transverse localization is also discussed in detail. The results show that both positive and negative defects in such a medium would enhance the localization.