Control of resonant weak-light solitons via a periodic modulated control field.

We investigate propagation and control of weak-light spatial solitons in a resonant three-level atomic system with a periodic modulated control field. It is shown that the periodic modulation acts like periodic potential which resists the propagation of the soliton in transverse direction. The soliton could be trapped by the periodic potential in the input channel. When the modulation is canceled, the soliton propagates in its initial incident direction. The periodic modulation of control field could be used to control the propagation of the weak-light probe soliton. Due to the good localization efficiency of the periodic potential, an excellent switching is realized for the probe soliton. These properties may have potential applications in all-optical switching, optical information processing and other fields.