Modulational instability criteria for coupled nonlinear transmission lines with dispersive elements

We investigate the modulational instability of Stokes wave solutions on a system of coupled nonlinear electrical transmission lines with dispersive elements. In the continuum limit, and in suitable scaled coordinates, the voltage on the system is described by the two-dimensional coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations. The set of coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations obtained is analyzed via a perturbation approach. No assumption is made on the signs of the relevant coefficients such as the coefficients of nonlinearity and the coupling coefficients. A set of explicit criteria of modulational stability and modulational instability is derived and analyzed. It is numerically shown that the effect of the dispersive elements in the line is to decrease the instability region and the instability growth rate.