Chirped periodic and solitary waves in nonlinear negative index materials

Abstract

Propagation of ultrashort pulses at least a few tens of optical cycles in duration through a negative index material is investigated theoretically based on the generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation with pseudo-quintic nonlinearity and self-steepening effect. Novel periodic waves of different forms are shown to exist in the system in the presence of higher-order effects. It is found that such periodic structures exhibit an interesting chirping property which depends on the light field intensity. The nonlinearity in pulse chirp is found to be caused by the presence of self-steepening effect in the negative index medium. The solutions also comprise dark, bright, and kink solitary waves. Stability of the solitary wave solutions are proved analytically using the theory of nonlinear dispersive waves. The stability of the solutions is numerically studied under finite initial perturbations.