SUPPRESSED FLUCTUATIONS AND INCIPIENT INSTABILITIES

We explore the underlying connection between period-doubling bifurcations and diminished fluctuations in a phase-sensitive measurement, observed in recent experiments by Bocko and Battiato [Phys. Rev. Lett. 60, 1763 (1988)]. A simple model of the phase-space dynamics shows that proper choice of a phase-sensitive quantity leads to noise suppression. This effect occurs generically for oscillators having constant dissipation. The model predicts the point at which suppression begins, and that noise attenuation is maximized at the bifurcation, at which point the fluctuations are diminished by a factor of 2. © 1990 The American Physical Society.