Europhys. Lett., 74 (3), pp. 452-458 (2006)
DOI: 10.1209/epl/i2005-10550-y

Mechanism of discrete breather excitation in driven micro-mechanical cantilever arrays

P. Maniadis and S. Flach

Max-Planck-Institut für Physik Komplexer Systeme Nöthnitzer Str. 38, D-01187 Dresden, Germany

received 2 July 2005; accepted in final form 1 March 2006
published online 29 March 2006

Abstract
We study the pathway of generating discrete breathers in damped and driven micromechanical cantilever arrays. Using the concept of the nonlinear response manifold we provide a systematic way to find the optimal parameter regime in damped and driven lattices where discrete breathers exist. Our results show that discrete breathers appear via a new instability of the manifold, different from the anticipated modulational instability known for conservative systems. We present several ways of exciting breathers, and compare also to experimental studies in antiferromagnetic layered systems.

PACS
63.20.Pw - Localized modes.
05.45.Xt - Synchronization; coupled oscillators.
05.45.-a - Nonlinear dynamics and nonlinear dynamical systems.

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