Localized spatial soliton excitations in (2 + 1)-dimensional nonlinear schrödinger equation with variable nonlinearity and an external potential

We report on the localized spatial soliton excitations in the multidimensional nonlinear Schrödinger equation with radially variable nonlinearity coefficient and an external potential. By using Hirota's binary differential operators, we determine a variety of external potentials and nonlinearity coefficients that can support nonlinear localized solutions of different but desired forms. For some specific external potentials and nonlinearity coefficients, we discuss features of the corresponding (2+1)-dimensional multisolitonic solutions, including ring solitons, lump solitons, and soliton clusters.