  We report on the first observation of surface gap solitons, recently
predicted to exist at the interface between uniform and periodic dielectric
media with defocusing nonlinearity [Ya.V. Kartashov et al., Phys. Rev. Lett.
96, 073901 (2006). We demonstrate strong self-trapping at the edge of a LiNbO_3
waveguide array and the formation of staggered surface solitons with
propagation constant inside the first photonic band gap. We study the crossover
between linear repulsion and nonlinear attraction at the surface, revealing the
mechanism of nonlinearity-mediated stabilization of the surface gap modes.

Optics;Pattern Formation and Solitons