Plasmonic kinks and walking solitons in nonlinear lattices of metal nanoparticles

Philos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci. 2014 Oct 28;372(2027):20140010. doi: 10.1098/rsta.2014.0010.

Abstract

We study nonlinear effects in one-dimensional (1D) arrays and two-dimensional (2D) lattices composed of metallic nanoparticles with the nonlinear Kerr-like response and an external driving field. We demonstrate the existence of families of moving solitons in 1D arrays and characterize their properties such as an average drifting velocity. We also analyse the impact of varying external field intensity and frequency on the structure and dynamics of kinks in 2D lattices. In particular, we identify the kinks with positive, negative and zero velocity as well as breathing kinks with a self-oscillating profile.

Keywords: bistability; kink; metallic nanoparticle; modulation instability; soliton.