Modulation instability and non-degenerate Akhmediev breathers of Manakov equations

Abstract: We reveal a new class of \textit{non-degenerate} Akhmediev breather (AB) solutions of Manakov equations that only exist in the focusing case. Based on exact solutions, we present the existence diagram of such excitations on the frequency-wavenumber plane. Conventional single-frequency modulation instability leads to simultaneous excitation of three ABs with two of them being non-degenerate.