Analytical results on the periodically driven damped pendulum. Application to sliding charge-density waves and Josephson junctions

The differential equation epsilonphi-dieresis+phi-dot-(1/2)α sin(2phi) = I+summation/sub n/ = -infinity/sup infinity/A/sub n/delta(t-t/sub n/) describing the periodically driven damped pendulum is analyzed in the strong damping limit epsilon<<1, using first-order perturbation theory. The equation may represent the motion of a sliding charge-density wave (CDW) in ac plus dc electric fields, and the resistively shunted Josephson junction driven by dc and microwave currents. When the torque I exceeds a critical value the pendulum rotates with a frequency ω. For infinite damping, or zero mass (epsilon = 0), the equation can be transformed to the Schroedinger equation of the Kronig-Penney model. When A/sub n/ is random the pendulum exhibits chaotic motion. In the regular case A/sub n/ = A the frequency ω is a smooth function of the parameters, so there are no phase-locked subharmonic plateaus in the ω(I) curve, or the I-V characteristics for the CDW or Josephson-junction systems. For small nonzero epsilon the return map expressing the phase phi(t/sub n/+1) as a function of the phase phi(t/sub n/) is a one-dimensional circle map. Applying known analytical results for the circle map one finds narrow subharmonic plateaus at all rational frequencies, in agreement with experiments on CDW systems