Solitons are coherent structures that describe the nonlinear evolution of wave localizations in hydrodynamics, optics, plasma and Bose-Einstein condensates. While the Peregrine breather is known to amplify a single localized perturbation of a carrier
wave of finite amplitude by a factor of three, there is a counterpart solution on zero background known as the degenerate two-soliton which also leads to high amplitude maxima. In this study, we report several observations of such multi-soliton with doubly-localized peaks in a water wave flume. The data collected in this experiment confirm the distinctive attainment of wave amplification by a factor of two in good agreement with the dynamics of the nonlinear Schrodinger equation solution. Advanced numerical simulations solving the problem of nonlinear free water surface boundary conditions of an ideal fluid quantify the physical limitations of the degenerate two-soliton in hydrodynamics.
The present study aims to extend the applicability of the static-boundary absorption method in phase-resolving CFD simulations outside the conventional shallow-water waves limit. Even though this method was originally formulated for shallow-water wav
es based on the conventional piston type wavemaker, extending its use to deeper water conditions provides a more practical and computationally cost efficient solution compared to other available numerical wave absorption alternatives. For this sake, absorption of unidirectional monochromatic waves in a semi-infinite flume by means of a static wall is investigated theoretically and numerically. Moreover, implementation to a practical wave-structure interaction application is investigated numerically and experimentally. A phase-resolving numerical model based on the Reynold-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations is implemented using the open source C++ toolbox OpenFOAM. The study presents the performance of the static-boundary method, in a dimensionless manner, by limiting the depth at which the active-absorption conventional-piston velocity profile is introduced; as a function of incident wave conditions. Moreover, it is shown that the performance of the static-boundary method can be significantly enhanced where wave reflection was reduced to about half of that of the conventional setup in deep-water conditions. Furthermore, the absorption depth is correlated to the incident wave conditions; providing an optimization framework for the selection of the proper dimensions of an absorbing wall. Finally, wave-structure interaction experimental tests were conducted to validate the numerical model performance; which shows an acceptable agreement between the model and the experimental observations. The proposed limiter is straight forward to be applied in pre-existing wave-structure interaction CFD solvers, without the need of code modifications.
We introduce a dynamic stabilization scheme universally applicable to unidirectional nonlinear coherent waves. By abruptly changing the waveguiding properties, the breathing of wave packets subject to modulation instability can be stabilized as a res
ult of the abrupt expansion a homoclinic orbit and its fall into an elliptic fixed point (center). We apply this concept to the nonlinear Schrodinger equation framework and show that an Akhmediev breather envelope, which is at the core of Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-Tsingou recurrence and extreme wave events, can be frozen into a steady periodic (dnoidal) wave by a suitable variation of a single external physical parameter. We experimentally demonstrate this general approach in the particular case of surface gravity water waves propagating in a wave flume with an abrupt bathymetry change. Our results highlight the influence of topography and waveguide properties on the lifetime of nonlinear waves and confirm the possibility to control them.
Mutual interaction of localized nonlinear waves, e.g. solitons and modulation instability patterns, is a fascinating and intensively-studied topic of nonlinear science. In this research report, we report on the observation of a novel type of breather
interaction in telecommunication optical fibers, in which two identical breathers propagate with opposite group velocities. Under certain conditions, neither amplification nor annihilation occur at the collision point and most interestingly, its amplitude is almost equal to another maximum of either oscillating breather. This ghost-like breather interaction dynamics can be fully described by the N-breather solution of the nonlinear Schrodinger equation.
Soliton and breather solutions of the nonlinear Schrodinger equation (NLSE) are known to model localized structures in nonlinear dispersive media such as on the water surface. One of the conditions for an accurate propagation of such exact solutions
is the proper generation of the exact initial phase-shift profile in the carrier wave, as defined by the NLSE envelope at a specific time or location. Here, we show experimentally the significance of such initial exact phase excitation during the hydrodynamic propagation of localized envelope solitons and breathers, which modulate a plane wave of constant amplitude (finite background). Using the example of stationary black solitons in intermediate water depth and pulsating Peregrine breathers in deep-water, we show how these localized envelopes disintegrate while they evolve over a long propagation distance when the initial phase shift is zero. By setting the envelope phases to zero, the dark solitons will disintegrate into two gray-type solitons and dispersive elements. In the case of the doubly-localized Peregrine breather the maximal amplification is considerably retarded; however locally, the shape of the maximal focused wave measured together with the respective signature phase-shift are almost identical to the exact analytical Peregrine characterization at its maximal compression location. The experiments, conducted in two large-scaled shallow-water as well as deep-water wave facilities, are in very good agreement with NLSE simulations for all cases.
We present both theoretical description and experimental observation of the modulation instability process and related rogue breathers in the case of stationary periodic background waves, namely cnoidal and dnoidal envelopes. Despite being well-known
solutions of the nonlinear Schrodinger equation, the stability of such background waves has remained unexplored experimentally until now, unlike the fundamental plane wave. By means of two experimental setups, namely, in nonlinear optics and hydrodynamics, we report on quantitative measurements of spontaneous modulation instability gain seeded by input random noise, as well as the formation of rogue breather solutions induced by a coherent perturbation. Our results confirm the generalization of modulation instability when more complex background waves are involved.
We study the evolution of nonlinear surface gravity water-wave packets developing from modulational instability over an uneven bottom. A nonlinear Schrodinger equation (NLSE) with coefficients varying in space along propagation is used as a reference
model. Based on a low-dimensional approximation obtained by considering only three complex harmonic modes, we discuss how to stabilize a one-dimensional pattern in the form of train of large peaks sitting on a background and propagating over a significant distance. Our approach is based on a gradual depth variation, while its conceptual framework is the theory of autoresonance in nonlinear systems and leads to a quasi-frozen state. Three main stages are identified: amplification from small sideband amplitudes, separatrix crossing, and adiabatic conversion to orbits oscillating around an elliptic fixed point. Analytical estimates on the three stages are obtained from the low-dimensional approximation and validated by NLSE simulations. Our result will contribute to understand dynamical stabilization of nonlinear wave packets and the persistence of large undulatory events in hydrodynamics and other nonlinear dispersive media.
Solitons and breathers are nonlinear modes that exist in a wide range of physical systems. They are fundamental solutions of a number of nonlinear wave evolution equations, including the uni-directional nonlinear Schrodinger equation (NLSE). We repor
t the observation of slanted solitons and breathers propagating at an angle with respect to the direction of propagation of the wave field. As the coherence is diagonal, the scale in the crest direction becomes finite, consequently, a beam dynamics forms. Spatio-temporal measurements of the water surface elevation are obtained by stereo-reconstructing the positions of the floating markers placed on a regular lattice and recorded with two synchronized high-speed cameras. Experimental results, based on the predictions obtained from the (2D+1) hyperbolic NLSE equation, are in excellent agreement with the theory. Our study proves the existence of such unique and coherent wave packets and has serious implications for practical applications in optical sciences and physical oceanography. Moreover, unstable wave fields in this geometry may explain the formation of directional large amplitude rogue waves with a finite crest length within a wide range of nonlinear dispersive media, such as Bose-Einstein condensates, plasma, hydrodynamics and optics.
We present a detailed study of the phase properties of rational breather waves observed in the hydrodynamic and optical domains, namely the Peregrine soliton and related second-order solution. At the point of maximum compression, our experimental res
ults recorded in a wave tank or using an optical fiber platform reveal a characteristic phase shift that is multiple of $pi$ between the central part of the pulse and the continuous background, in agreement with analytical and numerical predictions. We also stress the existence of a large longitudinal phase shift across the point of maximum compression.
The data recorded in optical fiber [1] and in hydrodynamic [2] experiments reported the pioneering observation of nonlinear waves with spatiotemporal localization similar to the Peregrine soliton are examined by using nonlinear spectral analysis. Our
approach is based on the integrable nature of the one-dimensional focusing nonlinear Schrodinger equation (1D-NLSE) that governs at leading order the propagation of the optical and hydrodynamic waves in the two experiments. Nonlinear spectral analysis provides certain spectral portraits of the analyzed structures that are composed of bands lying in the complex plane. The spectral portraits can be interpreted within the framework of the so-called finite gap theory (or periodic inverse scattering transform). In particular, the number N of bands composing the nonlinear spectrum determines the genus g = N - 1 of the solution that can be viewed as a measure of complexity of the space-time evolution of the considered solution. Within this setting the ideal, rational Peregrine soliton represents a special, degenerate genus 2 solution. While the fitting procedures employed in [1] and [2] show that the experimentally observed structures are quite well approximated by the Peregrine solitons, nonlinear spectral analysis of the breathers observed both in the optical fiber and in the water tank experiments reveals that they exhibit spectral portraits associated with more general, genus 4 finite-gap NLSE solutions. Moreover, the nonlinear spectral analysis shows that the nonlinear spectrum of the breathers observed in the experiments slowly changes with the propagation distance, thus confirming the influence of unavoidable perturbative higher order effects or dissipation in the experiments.
