Theory of solitary waves in complex plasma lattices

Abstract

A comprehensive analytical theory for nonlinear excitations related to horizontal (longitudinal, acoustic mode) as well as vertical (transverse, optical mode) motion of charged dust grains in a dust crystal is presented. Different types of localized excitations, similar to those well known in solid state physics, are reviewed and conditions for their occurrence and characteristics in dusty plasma crystals are discussed. By employing a continuum approximation (i.e. assuming a long variation scale, with respect to the inter-particle distance) a dust crystal is shown to support nonlinear kink-shaped supersonic solitary excitations, associated with longitudinal dust grain displacement, as well as modulated envelope localized modes associated with either longitudinal or transverse oscillations. Although a one-dimensional crystal is considered for simplicity, the results in principle apply to a two-dimensional lattice if certain conditions are satisfied. The effect of mode-coupling is also briefly considered. The relation to previous results on atomic chains, and also to experimental results on strongly-coupled dust layers in gas discharge plasmas, is briefly discussed.