Unidirectional transport of wave packets through tilted discrete breathers in nonlinear lattices with asymmetric defects

Xiao Dong Bai, Boris A. Malomed, Fu Guo Deng*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

We consider the transfer of lattice wave packets through a tilted discrete breather (TDB) in opposite directions in the discrete nonlinear Schrödinger model with asymmetric defects, which may be realized as a Bose-Einstein condensate trapped in a deep optical lattice, or as optical beams in a waveguide array. A unidirectional transport mode is found, in which the incident wave packets, whose energy belongs to a certain interval between full reflection and full passage regions, pass the TDB only in one direction, while in the absence of the TDB, the same lattice admits bidirectional propagation. The operation of this mode is accurately explained by an analytical consideration of the respective energy barriers. The results suggest that the TDB may emulate the unidirectional propagation of atomic and optical beams in various settings. In the case of the passage of the incident wave packet, the scattering TDB typically shifts by one lattice unit in the direction from which the wave packet arrives, which is an example of the tractor-beam effect, provided by the same system, in addition to the rectification of incident waves.

Original languageEnglish
Article number032216
JournalPhysical Review E
Volume94
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 23 Sep 2016

Funding

FundersFunder number
US-Israel
National Science Foundation
National Natural Science Foundation of China11474026, 11674033
Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities2015616, 2015KJJCA01

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