Oscillating Propagation of Kink in Nondissipative Frenkel–Kontorova Chain Due to External DC Force

Abstract

We report the oscillating propagation of kink in a nondissipative Frenkel–Kontorova (FK) chain driven by external DC force, which is different from the usual propagation of localized modes with equal speed. When the kink moves in the opposite direction of the external DC force, the kink will be accelerated and the potential of the FK chain in the external force field is transformed to be the kinetic energy of the kink. If the kink reaches the boundary of the FK chain, the kink will be bounced back and moves in the opposite direction, then the kink will be decelerated gradually and the kinetic energy of the kink is transformed to be the potential of the FK chain in the external force field. If the speed of the kink reaches zero, the kink will move in the opposite direction again driven by the external DC force, and a new oscillating cycle begins. Simulation result demonstrates exactly the transformation between the kinetic energy of the kink and the potential of the FK chain in the external force field. The interesting energy exchange is induced by the special topology of kinks, and other localized modes, such as breathers and envelope solitons, have no the interesting phenomenon.