A focusing and defocusing semi-discrete complex short-pulse equation and its various soliton solutions

In this paper, we are concerned with a semi-discrete complex short-pulse (sdCSP) equation of both focusing and defocusing types, which can be viewed as an analogue to the Ablowitz–Ladik lattice in the ultra-short-pulse regime. By using a generalized Darboux transformation method, various soliton solutions to this newly integrable semi-discrete equation are studied with both zero and non-zero boundary conditions. To be specific, for the focusing sdCSP equation, the multi-bright solution (zero boundary conditions), multi-breather and high-order rogue wave solutions (non-zero boundary conditions) are derived, while for the defocusing sdCSP equation with non-zero boundary conditions, the multi-dark soliton solution is constructed. We further show that, in the continuous limit, all the solutions obtained converge to the ones for its original CSP equation (Ling et al . 2016 Physica D 327 , 13–29 ( doi:10.1016/j.physd.2016.03.012 ); Feng et al . 2016 Phys. Rev. E 93 , 052227 ( doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.93.052227 )).