We consider the following class of quasilinear Schrödinger equations proposed in plasma physics and nonlinear optics $-\Delta u+V(x)u+\frac {\kappa }{2}[\Delta (u^{2})]u=h(u)$ in the whole two-dimensional Euclidean space. We establish the existence and qualitative properties of standing wave solutions for a broader class of nonlinear terms $h(s)$ with the critical exponential growth. We apply the dual approach to obtain solutions in the usual Sobolev space $H^{1}(\mathbb {R}^{2})$ when the parameter $\kappa >0$ is sufficiently small. Minimax techniques, Trudinger–Moser inequality and the Nash–Moser iteration method play an essential role in establishing our results.

We use bifurcation and topological methods to investigate the existence/nonexistence and the multiplicity of positive solutions of the following quasilinear Schrödinger equation

$$\left\{ {\matrix{ {-\Delta u-\kappa \Delta \left( {u^2} \right)u = \beta u-\lambda \Phi \left( {u^2} \right)u{\mkern 1mu} {\mkern 1mu} } \hfill & {{\rm in}\;\Omega ,} \hfill \cr {u = 0} \hfill & {{\rm on}\;\partial \Omega } \hfill \cr } } \right.$$

By using variational and some new analytic techniques, we prove the existence of ground state solutions for the quasilinear Schrödinger equation with variable potentials and super-linear nonlinearities. Moreover, we establish a minimax characterisation of the ground state energy. Our result improves and extends the existing results in the literature.

In this paper we consider the existence of least energy nodal solution for the defocusing quasilinear Schrödinger equation

$$-\Delta u - u \Delta u^2 + V(x)u = a(x)[g(u) + \lambda \vert u \vert ^{p-2}u] \hbox{in} {\open R}^N,$$

$L</italic>^{\infty}({\open R}^{N})$