Enhanced soliton transport in quasi-periodic lattices with short-range aperiodicity

Abstract

We study linear transmission and nonlinear soliton transport through quasi-periodic structures, which profiles are described by multiple modulation frequencies. We show that resonant scattering at mixed-frequency resonances limits transmission efficiency of localized wave packets, leading to radiation and possible trapping of solitons. We obtain an explicit analytical expression for optimal quasi-periodic lattice profiles, where additional aperiodic modulations suppress mixed-frequency resonances, resulting in dramatic enhancement of soliton mobility. Our results can be applied to the design of photonic waveguide structures, and arrays of magnetic micro-traps for atomic Bose-Einstein condensates.