On the stabilization of breather-type solutions of the damped higher order nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation

TL;DR

This paper investigates how dissipation and higher order nonlinearities can stabilize breather solutions of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation, revealing new instabilities and Floquet criteria for solution stabilization.

Contribution

It extends Floquet analysis to damped higher order NLS, identifying spectral conditions for breather stabilization and analyzing mode-specific instability behaviors.

Findings

Dissipation can stabilize certain breather solutions.

Instabilities are linked to degenerate complex Floquet spectrum elements.

Resonant modes destabilize faster than nonresonant modes.

Abstract

Spatially periodic breather solutions (SPBs) of the nonlinear Schr\"o\-dinger (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 both single and multi-mode SPBs 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 which result from symmetry breaking in the damped HONLS system. We broaden the Floquet characterization of instabilities of solutions of the NLS equation, using an even 3-phase solution of the NLS as an example, to show instabilities are associated with degenerate complex elements of both the periodic and 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 an initial SPB with a given mode structure, a perturbation analysis shows that for short time only the complex double points associated with resonant modes split under the damped HONLS while those associated with nonresonant modes remain effectively 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.