Supratransmission in lattices with purely nonlinear coupling
Phys. Rev. E 113, 064205 – Published 10 June, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/x5m6-wqkm
Abstract
Supratransmission is examined in nonlinear lattices with purely nonlinear coupling, extending the phenomenon to systems that lack a linear passband. In contrast to standard lattices with mixed linear-nonlinear interactions, the present model has no linear spectrum, so energy propagation arises entirely from nonlinear effects. Asymptotic analysis yields a discrete -Schrödinger equation that provides an accurate description in the weak- and intermediate-coupling regimes and offers qualitative insight into the strong-coupling regime. Perturbation provides analytical approximations for the critical driving amplitude, explicitly showing its dependence on the driving frequency, coupling strength, and the nonlinearity exponent . The analysis identifies a nontrivial dependence of the critical amplitude on , with distinct trends in different coupling regimes. Numerical continuation and direct simulations validate the theory in regimes where the asymptotic reduction is applicable and show good agreement across a wide range of parameters. The results establish supratransmission in fully nonlinear lattices and clarify the associated energy-transport mechanisms, with relevance to mechanical lattices, tunable metamaterials, and nonlinear optical arrays.