In recent years, femtosecond laser written photonic lattices have also proven essential in the investigation of nonlinear behavior in discrete systems. The degrees of freedom of the inscription technique allow us to study the formation of discrete spatial solitons in a multitude of one- and two-dimensional settings [Appl. Phys. B 104, 469 (2011)].

The investigation of spatiotemporal dynamics led to the first observation of two-dimensional surface solitons [Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 173903 (2007)], three-dimensional discrete-continuous X-waves [Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 113903 (2009)], optical light bullets [Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 263901 (2010)], as well as the demonstration of a viable scheme for all-optical routing and switching  [Sci. Rep. 1, 94 (2011)] in three-dimensional photonic networks.