  Novel photonic structures such as multi-core fibers and graphene based arrays
present unique opportunities to manipulate and control the propagation of
light. Here we discuss nonlinear dynamics for structures with a few (2 to 6)
elements for which linear and nonlinear properties can be tuned. Specifically
we show how nonlinearity, coupling, and parity-time PT symmetric gain/loss
relate to existence, stability and in general, dynamical properties of
nonlinear optical modes. The main emphasis of our presentation will be on
systems with few degrees of freedom, most notably couplers, trimers and
generalizations thereof to systems with 6 nodes.
