Localization length of stationary states in the nonlinear Schrödinger equation

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2007 Nov;76(5 Pt 2):056607. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.76.056607. Epub 2007 Nov 29.

Abstract

For the nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE), in the presence of disorder, exponentially localized stationary states are found. We demonstrate analytically that the localization length is typically independent of the strength of the nonlinearity and is identical to the one found for the corresponding linear equation. The analysis makes use of the correspondence between the stationary NLSE and the Langevin equation as well as of the resulting Fokker-Planck equation. The calculations are performed for the "white noise" random potential, and an exact expression for the exponential growth of the eigenstates is obtained analytically. It is argued that the main conclusions are robust.