Moving solitons in the discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equation

Standing and traveling waves in a model of periodically modulated one-dimensional waveguide arrays

In the present work we study coherent structures in a one-dimensional discrete nonlinear Schrödinger lattice in which the coupling between waveguides is periodically modulated. Numerical experiments with single-site initial conditions show that, depending on the power, the system exhibits two fundamentally different behaviors. At low power, initial conditions with intensity concentrated in a single site give rise to transport, with the energy moving unidirectionally along the lattice, whereas high-power initial conditions yield stationary solutions. We explain these two behaviors, as well as the nature of the transition between the two regimes, by analyzing a simpler model where the couplings between waveguides are given by step functions. For the original model, we numerically construct both stationary and moving coherent structures, which are solutions reproducing themselves exactly after an integer multiple of the coupling period. For the stationary solutions, which are true periodic orbits, we use Floquet analysis to determine the parameter regime for which they are spectrally stable. Typically, the traveling solutions are characterized by having small-amplitude oscillatory tails, although we identify a set of parameters for which these tails disappear. These parameters turn out to be independent of the lattice size, and our simulations suggest that for these parameters, numerically exact traveling solutions are stable.

Propagating intrinsic localized mode in a cyclic, dissipative, self-dual one-dimensional nonlinear transmission line

A well-known feature of a propagating localized excitation in a discrete lattice is the generation of a backwave in the extended normal mode spectrum. To quantify the parameter-dependent amplitude of such a backwave, the properties of a running intrinsic localized mode (ILM) in electric, cyclic, dissipative, nonlinear 1D transmission lines, containing balanced nonlinear capacitive and inductive terms, are studied via simulations. Both balanced and unbalanced damping and driving conditions are treated. The introduction of a unit cell duplex driver, with a voltage source driving the nonlinear capacitor and a synchronized current source, the nonlinear inductor, provides an opportunity to design a cyclic, dissipative self-dual nonlinear transmission line. When the self-dual conditions are satisfied, the dynamical voltage and current equations of motion within a cell become the same, the strength of the fundamental, resonant coupling between the ILM and the lattice modes collapses, and the associated fundamental backwave is no longer observed.

Almost compact moving breathers with fine-tuned discrete time quantum walks

Discrete time quantum walks are unitary maps defined on the Hilbert space of coupled two-level systems. We study the dynamics of excitations in a nonlinear discrete time quantum walk, whose fine-tuned linear counterpart has a flat band structure. The linear counterpart is, therefore, lacking transport, with exact solutions being compactly localized. A solitary entity of the nonlinear walk moving at velocity v would, therefore, not suffer from resonances with small amplitude plane waves with identical phase velocity, due to the absence of the latter. That solitary excitation would also have to be localized stronger than exponential, due to the absence of a linear dispersion. We report on the existence of a set of stationary and moving breathers with almost compact superexponential spatial tails. At the limit of the largest velocity v = 1 , the moving breather turns into a completely compact bullet.

Travelling breathers and solitary waves in strongly nonlinear lattices

We study the existence of travelling breathers and solitary waves in the discrete p-Schrödinger (DpS) equation. This model consists of a one-dimensional discrete nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation with strongly nonlinear inter-site coupling (a discrete p-Laplacian). The DpS equation describes the slow modulation in time of small amplitude oscillations in different types of nonlinear lattices, where linear oscillators are coupled to nearest-neighbours by strong nonlinearities. Such systems include granular chains made of discrete elements interacting through a Hertzian potential (p = 5/2 for contacting spheres), with additional local potentials or resonators inducing local oscillations. We formally derive three amplitude PDEs from the DpS equation when the exponent of nonlinearity is close to (and above) unity, i.e. for p lying slightly above 2. Each model admits localized solutions approximating travelling breather solutions of the DpS equation. One model is the logarithmic NLS equation which admits Gaussian solutions, and the other is fully nonlinear degenerate NLS equations with compacton solutions. We compare these analytical approximations to travelling breather solutions computed numerically by an iterative method, and check the convergence of the approximations when [Formula: see text] An extensive numerical exploration of travelling breather profiles for p = 5/2 suggests that these solutions are generally superposed on small amplitude non-vanishing oscillatory tails, except for particular parameter values where they become close to strictly localized solitary waves. In a vibro-impact limit where the parameter p becomes large, we compute an analytical approximation of solitary wave solutions of the DpS equation.This article is part of the theme issue 'Nonlinear energy transfer in dynamical and acoustical systems'.

Spectroscopy and Directed Transport of Topological Solitons in Crystals of Trapped Ions

We study experimentally and theoretically discrete solitons in crystalline structures consisting of several tens of laser-cooled ions confined in a radio frequency trap. Resonantly exciting localized, spectrally gapped vibrational modes of the soliton, a nonlinear mechanism leads to a nonequilibrium steady state of the continuously cooled crystal. We find that the propagation and the escape of the soliton out of its quasi-one-dimensional channel can be described as a thermal activation mechanism. We control the effective temperature of the soliton's collective coordinate by the amplitude of the external excitation. Furthermore, the global trapping potential permits controlling the soliton dynamics and realizing directed transport depending on its topological charge.

Dynamical phase diagram of Gaussian wave packets in optical lattices

We study the dynamics of self-trapping in Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) loaded in deep optical lattices with Gaussian initial conditions, when the dynamics is well described by the discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equation (DNLSE). In the literature an approximate dynamical phase diagram based on a variational approach was introduced to distinguish different dynamical regimes: diffusion, self-trapping, and moving breathers. However, we find that the actual DNLSE dynamics shows a completely different diagram than the variational prediction. We calculate numerically a detailed dynamical phase diagram accurately describing the different dynamical regimes. It exhibits a complex structure that can readily be tested in current experiments in BECs in optical lattices and in optical waveguide arrays. Moreover, we derive an explicit theoretical estimate for the transition to self-trapping in excellent agreement with our numerical findings, which may be a valuable guide as well for future studies on a quantum dynamical phase diagram based on the Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonian.

Supertransmission channel for an intrinsic localized mode in a one-dimensional nonlinear physical lattice

It is well known that a moving intrinsic localized mode (ILM) in a nonlinear physical lattice looses energy because of the resonance between it and the underlying small amplitude plane wave spectrum. By exploring the Fourier transform (FT) properties of the nonlinear force of a running ILM in a driven and damped 1D nonlinear lattice, as described by a 2D wavenumber and frequency map, we quantify the magnitude of the resonance where the small amplitude normal mode dispersion curve and the FT amplitude components of the ILM intersect. We show that for a traveling ILM characterized by a specific frequency and wavenumber, either inside or outside the plane wave spectrum, and for situations where both onsite and intersite nonlinearity occur, either of the hard or soft type, the strength of this resonance depends on the specific mix of the two nonlinearities. Examples are presented demonstrating that by engineering this mix the resonance can be greatly reduced. The end result is a supertransmission channel for either a driven or undriven ILM in a nonintegrable, nonlinear yet physical lattice.

Non-standard Hubbard models in optical lattices: a review

Originally, the Hubbard model was derived for describing the behavior of strongly correlated electrons in solids. However, for over a decade now, variations of it have also routinely been implemented with ultracold atoms in optical lattices, allowing their study in a clean, essentially defect-free environment. Here, we review some of the vast literature on this subject, with a focus on more recent non-standard forms of the Hubbard model. After giving an introduction to standard (fermionic and bosonic) Hubbard models, we discuss briefly common models for mixtures, as well as the so-called extended Bose-Hubbard models, that include interactions between neighboring sites, next-neighbor sites, and so on. The main part of the review discusses the importance of additional terms appearing when refining the tight-binding approximation for the original physical Hamiltonian. Even when restricting the models to the lowest Bloch band is justified, the standard approach neglects the density-induced tunneling (which has the same origin as the usual on-site interaction). The importance of these contributions is discussed for both contact and dipolar interactions. For sufficiently strong interactions, the effects related to higher Bloch bands also become important even for deep optical lattices. Different approaches that aim at incorporating these effects, mainly via dressing the basis, Wannier functions with interactions, leading to effective, density-dependent Hubbard-type models, are reviewed. We discuss also examples of Hubbard-like models that explicitly involve higher p orbitals, as well as models that dynamically couple spin and orbital degrees of freedom. Finally, we review mean-field nonlinear Schrödinger models of the Salerno type that share with the non-standard Hubbard models nonlinear coupling between the adjacent sites. In that part, discrete solitons are the main subject of consideration. We conclude by listing some open problems, to be addressed in the future.

Peierls-Nabarro energy surfaces and directional mobility of discrete solitons in two-dimensional saturable nonlinear Schrödinger lattices

We address the problem of directional mobility of discrete solitons in two-dimensional rectangular lattices, in the framework of a discrete nonlinear Schrödinger model with saturable on-site nonlinearity. A numerical constrained Newton-Raphson method is used to calculate two-dimensional Peierls-Nabarro energy surfaces, which describe a pseudopotential landscape for the slow mobility of coherent localized excitations, corresponding to continuous phase-space trajectories passing close to stationary modes. Investigating the two-parameter space of the model through independent variations of the nonlinearity constant and the power, we show how parameter regimes and directions of good mobility are connected to the existence of smooth surfaces connecting the stationary states. In particular, directions where solutions can move with minimum radiation can be predicted from flatter parts of the surfaces. For such mobile solutions, slight perturbations in the transverse direction yield additional transverse oscillations with frequencies determined by the curvature of the energy surfaces, and with amplitudes that for certain velocities may grow rapidly. We also describe how the mobility properties and surface topologies are affected by inclusion of weak lattice anisotropy.

Soliton theory of two-dimensional lattices: the discrete nonlinear schrödinger equation

We theoretically investigate the motion of collective excitations in the two-dimensional nonlinear Schrödinger equation with cubic nonlinearity. The form of these excitations for a broad range of parameters is derived. Their evolution and interaction is numerically studied and the modulation instability is discussed. The case of saturable nonlinearity is revisited.

High-speed kinks in a generalized discrete phi4 model

We consider a generalized discrete phi4 model and demonstrate that it can support exact moving kink solutions in the form of tanh with an arbitrarily large velocity. The constructed exact moving solutions are dependent on the specific value of the propagation velocity. We demonstrate that in this class of models, given a specific velocity, the problem of finding the exact moving solution is integrable. Namely, this problem originally expressed as a three-point map can be reduced to a two-point map, from which the exact moving solutions can be derived iteratively. It was also found that these high-speed kinks can be stable and robust against perturbations introduced in the initial conditions.

Solitons in one-dimensional nonlinear Schrödinger lattices with a local inhomogeneity

In this paper we analyze the existence, stability, dynamical formation, and mobility properties of localized solutions in a one-dimensional system described by the discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equation with a linear point defect. We consider both attractive and repulsive defects in a focusing lattice. Among our main findings are (a) the destabilization of the on-site mode centered at the defect in the repulsive case, (b) the disappearance of localized modes in the vicinity of the defect due to saddle-node bifurcations for sufficiently strong defects of either type, (c) the decrease of the amplitude formation threshold for attractive and its increase for repulsive defects, and (d) the detailed elucidation as a function of initial speed and defect strength of the different regimes (trapping, trapping and reflection, pure reflection, and pure transmission) of interaction of a moving localized mode with the defect.