Stability of cnoidal waves in the parametrically driven nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation

The parametrically driven, damped nonlinear Schr"odinger equation has two cn- and two dn-wave solutions. We show that one pair of the cn and dn solutions is unstable for any combination of the driver’s strength, dissipation coefficient and spatial period of the wave; this instability is against periodic perturbations. The second dn-wave solution is shown to be unstable against antiperiodic perturbations — in a certain region of the parameter space. We also consider quasiperiodic perturbations with long modulation wavelength, in the limit where the driving strength is only weakly exceeding the damping coefficient.