Modulational instability of coupled nonlinear field equations for pulse propagation in a negative index material embedded into a Kerr medium

Abstract: We have investigated the modulational instability (MI) in a negative index media (NIM) using a new generalized model describing the pulse propagation in a negative index material embedded into a Kerr medium. We have found that one could control the gain of MI in a NIM by tuning the initial electric or magnetic field amplitudes . Our model successfully recovers previously proposed models to describe pulse propagation in NIMs exhibiting Kerr nonlinearity. Moreover it contains a few additional terms connecting both the electric and magnetic field envelopes in a NIM.