CHAOTIC PROTON DYNAMICS IN THE HYDROGEN-BOND

The motion of a proton in a double-well potential created by the potentials of two heavy ions in a molecular chain is considered. The topology of the potential changes depending on the distance between the molecules. Both forms, double well and single well, are possible. Individual chaotic proton motion is triggered by the oscillations of the lattice. Depending on the system parameters, both the one-well and the cross-well attractors can be either periodic or chaotic. This has some interesting consequences for the interpretation and understanding of propagation of ionic defects in hydrogen-bonded chains in the presence of external oscillating fields. A frequency-locked propagating kink is found.