Gap solitons in parity–time symmetric moiré optical lattices

Parity–time ( PT ) symmetric lattices have been widely studied in controlling the flow of waves, and recently, moiré superlattices, connecting the periodic and non-periodic potentials, have been introduced for exploring unconventional physical properties in physics, while the combination of both and nonlinear waves therein remains unclear. Here, we report a theoretical survey of nonlinear wave localizations in PT symmetric moiré optical lattices, with the aim of revealing localized gap modes of different types and their stabilization mechanism. We uncover the formation, properties, and dynamics of fundamental and higher-order gap solitons as well as vortical ones with topological charge, all residing in the finite bandgaps of the underlying linear-Bloch wave spectrum. The stability regions of localized gap modes are inspected in two numerical ways: linear-stability analysis and direct perturbance simulations. Our results provide an insightful understanding of soliton physics in combined versatile platforms of PT symmetric systems and moiré patterns.