Soliton dynamics in gyrotropic molecular chains

Interaction of solitons with segments with modified dispersion

The interaction of nonlinear Schrödinger solitons with extended inhomogeneities with modified group-velocity (GV) and group-velocity dispersion (GVD) coefficients is investigated numerically. Increased GVD coefficients act as potential barriers and yield reflection or transmission of the incoming soliton. Decreased GVD coefficients act as potential wells, and for a given range of parameters the scattering results exhibit periodically repeating windows of trapping and transmission as a function of the length of the segment. It is shown that the escape of the soliton is due to a resonance between the period of the shape oscillations of the soliton inside the segment and the length of the latter. Segments with modified GV coefficients act as potential wells for both positive and negative values of the GV mismatch and can also lead to periodic capture-transmission scattering patterns.