Parametrically Driven Solitons in a Chain of Nonlinear Coupled Pendula with an Impurity

The system consisting of a chain of parametrically driven and damped nonlinear coupled pendula with a mass impurity is studied by means of a discrete version of the envelope function approach. An analogue of the parametrically driven damped nonlinear Schödinger equation with an impurity term is derived from the original lattice equation. Analytical solutions of impurity pinned high-frequency breathers and kinks are obtained. The results show that the mass impurity has striking influence on the high-frequency modes. In addition, we perform numerical simulations, showing that the light mass impurity has a stabilizing effect on the chain. The breathers seeding chaos in the homogeneous chain are pinned on a suitable light impurity to pull the chain from the chaotic state.