Dynamics of ionic defects and lattice solitons in a thermalized hydrogen-bonded chain

Fluxon mobility in an array of asymmetric superconducting quantum interference devices

Fluxon dynamics in the dc-biased array of asymmetric three-junction superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) is investigated. The array of SQUIDs is described by the discrete double sine-Gordon equation. It appears that this equation possesses a finite set of velocities at which the fluxon propagates with the constant shape and without radiation. The signatures of these velocities appear on the respective current-voltage characteristics of the array as inaccessible voltage intervals (gaps). The critical depinning current has a clear minimum as a function of the asymmetry parameter (the ratio of the critical currents of the left and right junctions of the SQUID), which coincides with the minimum of the Peierls-Nabarro potential.

Discrete kink dynamics in hydrogen-bonded chains: the two-component model

We study discrete topological solitary waves (kinks and antikinks) in two nonlinear diatomic chain models that describe the collective dynamics of proton transfers in one-dimensional hydrogen-bonded networks. The essential ingredients of the models are (i) a realistic (anharmonic) ion-proton interaction in the hydrogen bond, (ii) a harmonic coupling between the protons in adjacent hydrogen bonds, and (iii) a harmonic coupling between the nearest-neighbor heavy ions (an isolated diatomic chain with the lowest acoustic band) or instead a harmonic on-site potential for the heavy ions (a diatomic chain subject to a substrate with two optical bands), both providing a bistability of the hydrogen-bonded proton. Exact two-component (kink and antikink) discrete solutions for these models are found numerically. We compare the soliton solutions and their properties in both the one- (when the heavy ions are fixed) and two-component models. The effect of stability switchings, discovered previously for a class of one-component kink-bearing models, is shown to exist in these two-component models as well. However, the presence of the second component, i.e., the softness of the heavy-ion sublattice, brings principal differences, like a significant difference in the stability switchings behavior for the kinks and the antikinks. Water-filled carbon nanotubes are briefly discussed as possible realistic systems, where topological discrete (anti)kink states might exist.

Discrete kink dynamics in hydrogen-bonded chains: the one-component model

We study topological solitary waves (kinks and antikinks) in a nonlinear one-dimensional Klein-Gordon chain with the on-site potential of a double-Morse type. This chain is used to describe the collective proton dynamics in quasi-one-dimensional networks of hydrogen bonds, where the on-site potential plays the role of the proton potential in the hydrogen bond. The system supports a rich variety of stationary kink solutions with different symmetry properties. We study the stability and bifurcation structure of all these stationary kink states. An exactly solvable model with a piecewise "parabola-constant" approximation of the double-Morse potential is suggested and studied analytically. The dependence of the Peierls-Nabarro potential on the system parameters is studied. Discrete traveling-wave solutions of a narrow permanent profile are shown to exist, depending on the anharmonicity of the Morse potential and the cooperativity of the hydrogen bond (the coupling constant of the interaction between nearest-neighbor protons).

Collective proton transport with weak proton-proton coupling

A mechanism based on the peculiar dynamical properties of the hydrogen bond is suggested to describe fast proton transfers in hydrogen-bonded chains with realistic (weak) intersite proton-proton interactions. For this purpose, a two-sublattice model is suggested and studied analytically that admits an exact soliton solution. The solitons, which are topological objects (kinks and antikinks) on the one hand, but dynamical entities (like Boussinesq solitons) on the other hand, are shown to have a sufficiently large width to allow free propagation along the chain.