Subwavelength modulational instability and plasmon oscillons in nanoparticle arrays.

We study modulational instability in nonlinear arrays of subwavelength metallic nanoparticles and analyze numerically nonlinear scenarios of the instability development. We demonstrate that modulational instability can lead to the formation of regular periodic or quasiperiodic modulations of the polarization. We reveal that such nonlinear nanoparticle arrays can support long-lived standing and moving oscillating nonlinear localized modes--plasmon oscillons.