arXiv subjects

P. G. Kevrekidis

Publications and source records attributed to P. G. Kevrekidis.

At least 325 records · Page 18Linked to original sources

arXiv2012

Matter-wave bright solitons in spin-orbit coupled Bose-Einstein condensates

We study matter-wave bright solitons in spin-orbit (SO) coupled Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) with attractive interatomic interactions. We use a multiscale expansion method to identify solution families for chemical potentials in the semi-infinite gap of the linear energy spectrum. Depending on the linear and spin-orbit coupling strengths, the solitons may resemble either standard bright nonlinear Schrödinger solitons or exhibit a modulated density profile, reminiscent of the stripe phase of SO-coupled repulsive BECs. Our numerical results are in excellent agreement with our analytical findings, and demonstrate the potential robustness of such solitons for experimentally relevant conditions through stability analysis and direct numerical simulations.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2012

Scattering of atomic dark-bright solitons from narrow impurities

In this work, we study the collision of an atomic dark-bright soliton, in a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate, with a Gaussian barrier or well. First, we present the results of an experiment, illustrating the classical particle phenomenology (transmission or reflection) in the case of an equal barrier or well in both components. Then, motivated by the experimental observations, we perform systematic simulations considering not only the case of equal heights, but also the considerably more complex setting, where the potential affects only one of the two components. We systematically classify the ensuing cases within a two-parameter diagram of barrier amplitudes in the two components, and provide intuitive explanations for the resulting observations, as well as of their variations as the size of the barrier changes.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2012

Vortex-Bright Soliton Dipoles: Bifurcations, Symmetry Breaking and Soliton Tunneling in a Vortex-Induced Double Well

The emergence of vortex-bright soliton dipoles in two-component Bose-Einstein condensates through bifurcations from suitable eigenstates of the underlying linear system is examined. These dipoles can have their bright solitary structures be in phase (symmetric) or out of phase (anti-symmetric). The dynamical robustness of each of these two possibilities is considered and the out-of-phase case is found to exhibit an intriguing symmetry-breaking instability that can in turn lead to tunneling of the bright wavefunction between the two vortex "wells". We interpret this phenomenon by virtue of a vortex-induced double well system, whose spontaneous symmetry breaking leads to asymmetric vortex-bright dipoles, in addition to the symmetric and anti-symmetric ones. The theoretical prediction of these states is corroborated by detailed numerical computations.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2012

Dark Breathers in Granular Crystals

We present a study of the existence, stability and bifurcation structure of families of dark breathers in a one-dimensional uniform chain of spherical beads under static load. A defocus- ing nonlinear Schrodinger equation (NLS) is derived for frequencies that are close to the edge of the phonon band and is used to construct targeted initial conditions for numerical computations. Salient features of the system include the existence of large amplitude solutions that bifurcate with the small amplitude solutions described by the NLS equation, and the presence of a nonlinear instability that, to the best of the authors knowledge, has not been observed in classical Fermi- Pasta-Ulam lattices. Finally, it is also demonstrated that these dark breathers can be detected in a physically realistic way by merely actuating the ends of an initially at rest chain of beads and inducing destructive interference between their signals.

nlin.PS↗

arXiv2012

Quenched dynamics of two-dimensional solitons and vortices in the Gross-Pitaevskii equation

We consider a two-dimensional (2D) counterpart of the experiment that led to the creation of quasi-1D bright solitons in Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) [Nature 417, 150--153 (2002)]. We start by identifying the ground state of the 2D Gross-Pitaevskii equation for repulsive interactions, with a harmonic-oscillator (HO) trap, and with or without an optical lattice (OL). Subsequently, we switch the sign of the interaction to induce interatomic attraction and monitor the ensuing dynamics. Regions of the stable self-trapping and catastrophic collapse of 2D fundamental solitons are identified in the parameter plane of the OL strength and BEC norm. The increase of the OL strength expands the persistence domain for the solitons to larger norms. For single-charged solitary vortices, in addition to the survival and collapse regimes, an intermediate one is identified, where the vortex resists the collapse but loses its structure, transforming into a fundamental soliton. The same setting may also be implemented in the context of optical solitons and vortices, using photonic-crystal fibers.

nlin.PS↗

arXiv2012

Linear and Nonlinear PT-symmetric Oligomers: A Dynamical Systems Analysis

In the present work we focus on the cases of two-site (dimer) and three-site (trimer) configurations, i.e. oligomers, respecting the parity-time (PT) symmetry, i.e., with a spatially odd gain-loss profile. We examine different types of solutions of such configurations with linear and nonlinear gain/loss profiles. Solutions beyond the linear PT-symmetry critical point as well as solutions with asymmetric linearization eigenvalues are found in both the nonlinear dimer and trimer. The latter feature is absent in linear PT-symmetric trimers, while both of them are absent in linear PT symmetric dimers. Furthermore, nonlinear gain/loss terms enable the existence of both symmetric and asymmetric solution profiles (and of bifurcations between them), while only symmetric solutions are present in the linear PT-symmetric dimers and trimers. The linear stability analysis around the obtained solutions is discussed and their dynamical evolution is explored by means of direct numerical simulations. Finally, a brief discussion is also given of recent progress in the context of PT-symmetric quadrimers.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2012

Breathers for the Discrete Nonlinear Schrödinger equation with nonlinear hopping

We discuss the existence of breathers and lower bounds on their power, in nonlinear Schrödinger lattices with nonlinear hopping. Our methods extend from a simple variational approach to fixed point arguments, deriving lower bounds for the power which can serve as a threshold for the existence of breather solutions. Qualitatively, the theoretical results justify non-existence of breathers below the prescribed lower bounds of the power which depend on the dimension, the parameters of the lattice as well as of the frequency of breathers. In the case of supercritical power nonlinearities we investigate the interplay of these estimates with the optimal constant of the discrete interpolation inequality. Improvements of the general estimates, taking into account the localization of the true breather solutions are derived. Numerical studies in the one dimensional lattice corroborate the theoretical bounds and illustrate that in certain parameter regimes of physical significance, the estimates can serve as accurate predictors of the breather power and its dependence on the various system parameters.

nlin.PS↗

arXiv2012

Asymmetric Wave Propagation Through Nonlinear PT-symmetric Oligomers

In the present paper, we consider nonlinear PT-symmetric dimers and trimers (more generally, oligomers) embedded within a linear Schr{ö}dinger lattice. We examine the stationary states of such chains in the form of plane waves, and analytically compute their reflection and transmission coefficients through the nonlinear PT symmetric oligomer, as well as the corresponding rectification factors which clearly illustrate the asymmetry between left and right propagation in such systems. We examine not only the existence but also the dynamical stability of the plane wave states and interestingly find them to be generically unstable. Lastly, we generalize our numerical considerations to the more physically relevant case of Gaussian initial wavepackets and confirm that the asymmetry in the transmission properties persists in the case of such wavepackets, as well.

nlin.PS↗

arXiv2012

Solitons and their ghosts in PT-symmetric systems with defocusing nonlinearities

We examine a prototypical nonlinear Schrödinger model bearing a defocusing nonlinearity and Parity-Time (PT) symmetry. For such a model, the solutions can be identified numerically and characterized in the perturbative limit of small gain/loss. There we find two fundamental phenomena. First, the dark solitons that persist in the presence of the PT-symmetric potential are destabilized via a symmetry breaking (pitchfork) bifurcation. Second, the ground state and the dark soliton die hand-in-hand in a saddle-center bifurcation (a nonlinear analogue of the PT-phase transition) at a second critical value of the gain/loss parameter. The daughter states arising from the pitchfork are identified as "ghost states", which are not exact solutions of the original system, yet they play a critical role in the system's dynamics. A similar phenomenology is also pairwise identified for higher excited states, with e.g. the two-soliton structure bearing similar characteristics to the zero-soliton one, and the three-soliton state having the same pitchfork destabilization mechanism and saddle-center collision (in this case with the two-soliton) as the one-dark soliton. All of the above notions are generalized in two-dimensional settings for vortices, where the topological charge enforces the destabilization of a two-vortex state and the collision of a no-vortex state with a two-vortex one, of a one-vortex state with a three-vortex one, and so on. The dynamical manifestation of the instabilities mentioned above is examined through direct numerical simulations.

nlin.PS↗

arXiv2012

PT-symmetric Double Well Potentials Revisited: Bifurcations, Stability and Dynamics

In this work we analyze PT-symmetric double-well potentials based on a two-mode picture. We reduce the problem into a PT-symmetric dimer and illustrate that the latter has effectively two fundamental bifurcations, a pitchfork (symmetry-breaking bifurcation) and a saddle-center one, which is the nonlinear analog of the PT-phase-transition. It is shown that the symmetry breaking leads to ghost states (amounting to growth or decay); although these states are not true solutions of the original continuum problem, the system's dynamics closely follows them, at least in its metastable evolution. Past the second bifurcation, there are no longer states of the original continuum system. Nevertheless, the solutions can be analytically continued to yield a new pair of branches, which is also identified and dynamically examined. Our explicit analytical results for the dimer are directly compared to the full continuum problem, yielding a good agreement.

nlin.PS↗

arXiv2012

Existence, stability and nonlinear dynamics of vortices and vortex clusters in anisotropic Bose-Einstein condensates

We study vortex excitations in one-component Bose-Einstein condensates, with a special emphasis on the role of anisotropic confinement for the existence, stability and dynamical properties of vortices and particularly few-vortex clusters. Symmetry breaking features are pervasive within this system even in its isotropic installment, where cascades of symmetry breaking bifurcations give rise to the multi-vortex clusters, but also within the anisotropic realm which naturally breaks the rotational symmetry of the multi-vortex states. Our first main tool for analyzing the system consists of a weakly nonlinear (bifurcation) approach which starts from the linear states of the problem and examines their continuation and bifurcation into novel symmetry-broken configurations in the nonlinear case. This is first done in the isotropic limit and the modifications introduced by the anisotropy are subsequently presented. The second main tool concerns the highly nonlinear regime where the vortices can be considered as individual topologically charged "particles" which precess within the parabolic trap and interact with each other, similarly to fluid vortices. The conclusions stemming from both the bifurcation and the interacting particle picture are corroborated by numerical computations which are also used to bridge the gap between these two opposite-end regimes.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2012

Nonlinear PT-symmetric plaquettes

We introduce four basic two-dimensional (2D) plaquette configurations with onsite cubic nonlinearities, which may be used as building blocks for 2D PT -symmetric lattices. For each configuration, we develop a dynamical model and examine its PT symmetry. The corresponding nonlinear modes are analyzed starting from the Hamiltonian limit, with zero value of the gain-loss coefficient. Once the relevant waveforms have been identified (chiefly, in an analytical form), their stability is examined by means of linearization in the vicinity of stationary points. This reveals diverse and, occasionally, fairly complex bifurcations. The evolution of unstable modes is explored by means of direct simulations. In particular, stable localized modes are found in these systems, although the majority of identified solutions is unstable.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2012

Ultrashort pulses and short-pulse equations in $(2+1)-$dimensions

In this paper, we derive and study two versions of the short pulse equation (SPE) in $(2+1)-$dimensions. Using Maxwell's equations as a starting point, and suitable Kramers-Kronig formulas for the permittivity and permeability of the medium, which are relevant, e.g., to left-handed metamaterials and dielectric slab waveguides, we employ a multiple scales technique to obtain the relevant models. General properties of the resulting $(2+1)$-dimensional SPEs, including fundamental conservation laws, as well as the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian structure and numerical simulations for one- and two-dimensional initial data, are presented. Ultrashort 1D breathers appear to be fairly robust, while rather general two-dimensional localized initial conditions are transformed into quasi-one-dimensional dispersing waveforms.

nlin.PS↗

arXiv2012

Finite-temperature dynamics of matter-wave dark solitons in linear and periodic potentials: an example of an anti-damped Josephson junction

We study matter-wave dark solitons in atomic Bose-Einstein condensates at finite temperatures, under the effect of linear and periodic potentials. Our model, namely a dissipative Gross-Pitaevskii equation, is treated analytically by means of dark soliton perturbation theory, which results in a Newtonian equation of motion for the dark soliton center. This reduced model, which incorporates an effective washboard potential and an anti-damping term, constitutes an example of an anti-damped Josephson junction. We present a qualitative (local and global) analysis of the equation of motion. For sufficiently small wavenumbers of the periodic potential and weak linear potentials, the results are found to be in good agreement with pertinent ones obtained via a Bogoliubov-de Gennes analysis and direct numerical simulations.

nlin.PS↗

arXiv2012

Symmetry-breaking Effects for Polariton Condensates in Double-Well Potentials

We study the existence, stability, and dynamics of symmetric and anti-symmetric states of quasi-one-dimensional polariton condensates in double-well potentials, in the presence of nonresonant pumping and nonlinear damping. Some prototypical features of the system, such as the bifurcation of asymmetric solutions, are similar to the Hamiltonian analog of the double-well system considered in the realm of atomic condensates. Nevertheless, there are also some nontrivial differences including, e.g., the unstable nature of both the parent and the daughter branch emerging in the relevant pitchfork bifurcation for slightly larger values of atom numbers. Another interesting feature that does not appear in the atomic condensate case is that the bifurcation for attractive interactions is slightly sub-critical instead of supercritical. These conclusions of the bifurcation analysis are corroborated by direct numerical simulations examining the dynamics of the system in the unstable regime.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2012

Intrinsic localized modes in coupled DNLS equations from the anti-continuum limit

In the present work, we generalize earlier considerations for intrinsic localized modes consisting of a few excited sites, as developed in the one-component discrete nonlinear Schrodinger equation model, to the case of two-component systems. We consider all the different combinations of "up" (zero phase) and "down" (π phase) site excitations and are able to compute not only the corresponding existence curves, but also the eigenvalue dependences of the small eigenvalues potentially responsible for instabilities, as a function of the nonlinear parameters of the model representing the self/cross phase modulation in optics and the scattering length ratios in the case of matter waves in optical lattices. We corroborate these analytical predictions by means of direct numerical computations. We infer that all the modes which bear two adjacent nodes with the same phase are unstable in the two component case and the only solutions that may be linear stable are ones where each set of adjacent nodes, in each component is out of phase.

nlin.PS↗

arXiv2012

Dark solitons and vortices in PT-symmetric nonlinear media: from spontaneous symmetry breaking to nonlinear PT phase transitions

We consider nonlinear analogues of Parity-Time (PT) symmetric linear systems exhibiting defocusing nonlinearities. We study the ground state and excited states (dark solitons and vortices) of the system and report the following remarkable features. For relatively weak values of the parameter $\varepsilon$ controlling the strength of the PT-symmetric potential, excited states undergo (analytically tractable) spontaneous symmetry breaking; as $\varepsilon$ is further increased, the ground state and first excited state, as well as branches of higher multi-soliton (multi-vortex) states, collide in pairs and disappear in blue-sky bifurcations, in a way which is strongly reminiscent of the linear PT-phase transition ---thus termed the nonlinear PT-phase transition. Past this critical point, initialization of, e.g., the former ground state leads to spontaneously emerging solitons and vortices.

nlin.PS↗

arXiv2012

Multibreathers in Klein-Gordon chains with interactions beyond nearest neighbors

We study the existence and stability of multibreathers in Klein-Gordon chains with interactions that are not restricted to nearest neighbors. We provide a general framework where such long range effects can be taken into consideration for arbitrarily varying (as a function of the node distance) linear couplings between arbitrary sets of neighbors in the chain. By examining special case examples such as three-site breathers with next-nearest-neighbors, we find {\it crucial} modifications to the nearest-neighbor picture of one-dimensional oscillators being excited either in- or anti-phase. Configurations with nontrivial phase profiles, arise, as well as spontaneous symmetry breaking (pitchfork) bifurcations, when these states emerge from (or collide with) the ones with standard (0 or $π$) phase difference profiles. Similar bifurcations, both of the supercritical and of the subcritical type emerge when examining four-site breathers with either next-nearest-neighbor or even interactions with the three-nearest one-dimensional neighbors. The latter setting can be thought of as a prototype for the two-dimensional building block, namely a square of lattice nodes, which is also examined. Our analytical predictions are found to be in very good agreement with numerical results.

nlin.PS↗