Localized Faraday patterns under heterogeneous parametric excitation

Faraday waves are a classic example of a system in which an extended pattern emerges under spatially uniform forcing. Motivated by systems in which uniform excitation is not plausible, we study both experimentally and theoretically the effect of heterogeneous forcing on Faraday waves. Our experiments show that vibrations restricted to finite regions lead to the formation of localized subharmonic wave patterns and change the onset of the instability. The prototype model used for the theoretical calculations is the parametrically driven and damped nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation, which is known to describe well Faraday-instability regimes. For an energy injection with a Gaussian spatial profile, we show that the evolution of the envelope of the wave pattern can be reduced to a Weber-equation eigenvalue problem. Our theoretical results provide very good predictions of our experimental observations provided that the decay length scale of the Gaussian profile is much larger than the pattern wavelength.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, Accepte

Multiplicity and concentration results for local and fractional NLS equations with critical growth

Goal of this paper is to study the following singularly perturbed nonlinear Schrödinger equation: eps^2s (-Delta)^s v + V(x)v = f(v), x in R^N, where s is in (0,1), N is greater or equal to 2, V in C(R^N,R) is a positive potential and f is assumed critical and satisfying general Berestycki-Lions type conditions. When eps is greater than 0 is small, we obtain existence and multiplicity of semiclassical solutions, relating the number of solutions to the cup-length of a set of local minima of V; in particular, we improve the result in [37]. Furthermore, these solutions are proved to concentrate in the potential well, exhibiting a polynomial decay. Finally, we prove the previous results also in the limiting local setting s = 1 and N greater or equal to 3, with an exponential decay of the solutions

Mixed diffusive-convective relaxation of a broad beam of energetic particles in cold plasma

We revisit the applications of quasi-linear theory as a paradigmatic model for weak plasma turbulence and the associated bump-on-tail problem. The work, presented here, is built around the idea that large-amplitude or strongly shaped beams do not relax through diffusion only and that there exists an intermediate time scale where the relaxations are convective (ballistic-like). We cast this novel idea in the rigorous form of a self-consistent nonlinear dynamical model, which generalizes the classic equations of the quasi-linear theory to "broad" beams with internal structure. We also present numerical simulation results of the relaxation of a broad beam of energetic particles in cold plasma. These generally demonstrate the mixed diffusive-convective features of supra-thermal particle transport; and essentially depend on nonlinear wave-particle interactions and phase-space structures. Taking into account modes of the stable linear spectrum is crucial for the self-consistent evolution of the distribution function and the fluctuation intensity spectrum.Comment: 25 pages, 15 figure

Soliton generation and control in engineered materials

Optical solitons provide unique opportunities for the control of light‐bylight. Today, the field of soliton formation in natural materials is mature, as the main properties of the possible soliton states are well understood. In particular, optical solitons have been observed experimentally in a variety of materials and physical settings, including media with cubic, quadratic, photorefractive, saturable, nonlocal and thermal nonlinearities. New opportunities for soliton generation, stability and control may become accessible in complex engineered, artificial materials, whose properties can be modified at will by, e.g., modulations of the material parameters or the application gain and absorption landscapes. In this way one may construct different types of linear and nonlinear optical lattices by transverse shallow modulations of the linear refractive index and the nonlinearity coefficient or complex amplifying structures in dissipative nonlinear media. The exploration of the existence, stability and dynamical properties of conservative and dissipative solitons in settings with spatially inhomogeneous linear refractive index, nonlinearity, gain or absorption, is the subject of this PhD Thesis. We address stable conservative fundamental and multipole solitons in complex engineered materials with an inhomogeneous linear refractive index and nonlinearity. We show that stable two‐dimensional solitons may exist in nonlinear lattices with transversally alternating domains with cubic and saturable nonlinearities. We consider multicomponent solitons in engineered materials, where one field component feels the modulation of the refractive index or nonlinearity while the other component propagates as in a uniform nonlinear medium. We study whether the cross‐phase‐modulation between two components allows the stabilization of the whole soliton state. Media with defocusing nonlinearity growing rapidly from the center to the periphery is another example of a complex engineered material. We study such systems and, in contrast to the common belief, we have found that stable bright solitons do exist when defocusing nonlinearity grows towards the periphery rapidly enough. We consider different nonlinearity landscapes and analyze the types of soliton solution available in each case. Nonlinear materials with complex spatial distributions of gain and losses also provide important opportunities for the generation of stable one‐ and multidimensional fundamental, multipole, and vortex solitons. We study onedimensional solitons in focusing and defocusing nonlinear dissipative materials with single‐ and double‐well absorption landscapes. In two‐dimensional geometries, stable vortex solitons and complexes of vortices could be observed. We not only address stationary vortex structures, but also steadily rotating vortex solitons with azimuthally modulated intensity distributions in radially symmetric gain landscapes. Finally, we study the possibility of forming stable topological light bullets in focusing nonlinear media with inhomogeneous gain landscapes and uniform twophoton absorption

Light Beams in Liquid Crystals

This reprint collects recent articles published on "Light Beams in Liquid Crystals", both research and review contributions, with specific emphasis on liquid crystals in the nematic mesophase. The editors, Prof. Gaetano Assanto (NooEL, University of Rome "Roma Tre") and Prof. Noel F. Smyth (School of Mathematics, University of Edinburgh), are among the most active experts worldwide in nonlinear optics of nematic liquid crystals, particularly reorientational optical solitons ("nematicons") and other all-optical effects

On the Spectral Stability of Solitary Waves

We study the spectral stability of the solitary wave solutions to the nonlinear Dirac equations. We focus on two types of nonlinearity: the Soler type and the Coulomb type. For the Soler model, we apply the Evans function technique to explore the point spectrum of the linearized operator at a solitary wave solution to the 2D and 3D cases. For the toy Coulomb model, the solitary wave solutions are no longer SU(1, 1) symmetric. We show numerically that there are no eigenvalues near 2ωi in the nonrelativistic limit (ω . m) and the spectral stability persists in spite of the absence of SU(1, 1) symmetry