Deformation of optical solitons in a variable-coefficient nonlinear Schrödinger equation with three distinct PT-symmetric potentials and modulated nonlinearities.

We investigate deformed/controllable characteristics of solitons in inhomogeneous parity-time (PT)-symmetric optical media. To explore this, we consider a variable-coefficient nonlinear Schrödinger equation involving modulated dispersion, nonlinearity, and tapering effect with PT-symmetric potential, which governs the dynamics of optical pulse/beam propagation in longitudinally inhomogeneous media. By incorporating three physically interesting and recently identified forms of PT-symmetric potentials, namely, rational, Jacobian periodic, and harmonic-Gaussian potentials, we construct explicit soliton solutions through similarity transformation. Importantly, we investigate the manipulation dynamics of such optical solitons due to diverse inhomogeneities in the medium by implementing step-like, periodic, and localized barrier/well-type nonlinearity modulations and revealing the underlying phenomena. Also, we corroborate the analytical results with direct numerical simulations. Our theoretical exploration will provide further impetus in engineering optical solitons and their experimental realization in nonlinear optics and other inhomogeneous physical systems.