On the Stabilization of Breather-type Solutions of the Damped Higher Order Nonlinear Schrödinger Equation

Abstract

Spatially periodic breather solutions (SPBs) of the nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation are frequently used to model rogue waves and are typically unstable. In this paper we study the effects of dissipation and higher order nonlinearities on the stabilization of N-mode SPBs, 1≤N≤3, in the framework of a damped higher order NLS (HONLS) equation. We observe the onset of novel instabilities associated with the development of critical states resulting from symmetry breaking in the damped HONLS system. We develop a broadened Floquet characterization of instabilities of solutions of the NLS equation by showing that instabilities are associated with degenerate complex elements of not only the discrete, but also the continuous Floquet spectrum. As a result, the Floquet criteria for the stabilization of a solution of the damped HONLS centers around the elimination of all complex degenerate elements of the spectrum. For a given initial N-mode SPB, a short-time perturbation analysis shows that the complex double points associated with resonant modes split under the damped HONLS while those associated with nonresonant modes remain closed. The corresponding /damped HONLS numerical experiments corroborate that instabilities associated with nonresonant modes persist on a longer time scale than the instabilities associated with resonant modes.