Analytical Study of Discrete Optical Breathers in Spiral Polymer Chain

Abstract

Physico-mechanical properties of polymers in solid state, in particular conditions of their structural transformations, are substantially defined by existence and mobility of elementary nonlinear excitations. The localized oscillatory excitations (breathers), which have been revealed earlier in crystalline polyethylene alongside with topological solitons, turn out to be significant for thermodynamic studies as well as for investigation of energy transfer. We consider analytically the breathers in more complex crystalline polytetrafluoroethylene. It is shown that introduction of adequate variables allows to construct the continuum model describing spatially localized excitations with several internal degrees of freedom. Characteristic parameters of breathers and conditions of their mobility are defined.