Short-wavelength instability in a linear array of vortices

Wave-vortex interaction

We present an experimental study of the effect of an electromagnetically generated vortex flow on parametrically amplified waves at the surface of a vertically vibrated fluid layer. The underlying vortex flow, generated by a periodic Lorentz force, creates spatiotemporal fluctuations that nonlinearly interact with the standing surface waves. We measure the power spectral density of the surface wave amplitude and we characterize the bifurcation diagram by recording the subharmonic response of the surface to the external vibration. We show that the parametric instability is delayed in the presence of spatiotemporal fluctuations due to the vortex flow. In addition, the dependence of the amplitude of the subharmonic response on the distance to the instability threshold is modified. This shows that the nonlinear saturation mechanism of the waves is modified by the vortex flow.

Modulational instability and unstable patterns in the discrete complex cubic Ginzburg-Landau equation with first and second neighbor couplings

The generation of nonlinear modulated waves is investigated in the framework of hydrodynamics using a model of coupled oscillators. In this model, the separatrices between each pair of vortices may be viewed as individual oscillators and are described by a phenomenological one-dimensional discrete complex Ginzburg-Landau equation involving first- and second-nearest neighbor couplings. A theoretical approach based on the linear stability analysis predicts regions of modulational instability, governed by both the first and second-nearest neighbor couplings. From numerical investigations of different wave patterns that may be driven by the modulational instability, it appears that analytical predictions are correctly verified. For wave number in the unstable regions, an initial condition whose amplitude is slightly modulated breaks into a train of unstable patterns. This phenomenon agrees with the description of amplification of the spectral component of the perturbation and its harmonics, as well.

Stability analysis of plane wave solutions of the discrete ginzburg-landau equation

The discrete Ginzburg-Landau model for a family of oscillators linearly coupled with their first neighbors is studied. The full linear stability analysis of the nonlinear plane wave solutions is performed by considering both the wave number (k) of the basic states and the wave number (q) of the perturbations as free parameters. In particular, it is shown that nonlinear plane waves can be destabilized not only by long (q-->0) or short (q=pi) wave perturbations, but also by intermediate wave numbers (0<q<pi). Finite size effects are also considered and discussed in connection with experiments on coupled oscillating wakes.