Fractional electrical impurity

Abstract

We examine the localized mode and the transmission of plane waves across a capacitive impurity of strength Δ, in a 1D bi-inductive electrical transmission line where the usual discrete Laplacian is replaced by a fractional one characterized by a fractional exponent s. In the absence of the impurity, the plane wave dispersion is computed in closed form in terms of hypergeometric functions. It is observed that the bandwidth decreases steadily, as s decreases towards zero, reaching a minimum width at s = 0. The localized mode energy and spatial profiles are computed in closed form vía lattice Green functions. The profiles show a remnant of the staggered-unstaggered symmetry that is common in non-fractional chains. The width of the localized mode decreases with decreasing s, becoming completely localized at the impurity site at s = 0. The transmission coefficient of plane waves across the impurity is qualitatively similar to its non-fractional counterpart (s = 1), except at low s values ( s≪1 ). For a fixed exponent s, the transmission decreases with increasing Δ.