Publication Date
2010
Journal or Book Title
Physics Review Letters
Abstract
We report the experimental observation of modulational instability and discrete breathers in a one-dimensional diatomic granular crystal composed of compressed elastic beads that interact via Hertzian contact. We first characterize their effective linear spectrum both theoretically and experimentally. We then illustrate theoretically and numerically the modulational instability of the lower edge of the optical band. This leads to the dynamical formation of long-lived breather structures, whose families of solutions we compute throughout the linear spectral gap. Finally, we experimentally observe the manifestation of the modulational instability and the resulting generation of localized breathing modes with quantitative characteristics that agree with our numerical results.
Volume
104
Issue
24
Recommended Citation
Boechler, N; Theocharis, G; Job, S; and Kevrekidis, PG, "Discrete Breathers in One-Dimensional Diatomic Granular Crystals" (2010). Physics Review Letters. 1131.
Retrieved from https://scholarworks.umass.edu/math_faculty_pubs/1131
Comments
This is the pre-published version harvested from arXiv. The published version is located at http://prl.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v104/i24/e244302