Modulational instability and localized breather in discrete Schrödinger equation with helicoidal hopping and a power-law nonlinearity

Abstract We investigate the discrete nonlinear Schrodinger model with helicoidal hopping and a power-law nonlinearity, motivated by the tunable nonlinearity in the model of DNA chain and ultra-cold atoms trapped in a helix-shaped optical trap. In the study of modulational instability, we find a successive destabilization along with increasing nonlinear-power. In particular, the critical amplitudes of second-stage instability decrease as nonlinear-power increases. Furthermore, it is shown that information on the stability properties of weakly localized solutions can be inferred from the plane-wave modulational instability results. This link enable us to analytically estimate the critical parameters at which the breather solutions turn unstable, and find these parameters are dramatically influenced by the nonlinear-power. The stability properties of localized breathers perform an obvious change when the nonlinear power crosses a critical value γ c r . It is reflected that at weak nonlinearity the breathers exhibit monostability, while exceeding γ c r the bistability and instability will set in. The interplay between nonlinear-power and long-range hopping on the stability properties of breathers is also discussed in detail.