STABILIZED SPATIOTEMPORAL WAVES IN A CONVECTIVELY UNSTABLE OPEN FLOW SYSTEM - COUPLED DIODE RESONATORS

With various methods we demonstrate the establishment of stable, spatially extended wave forms underlying a spatiotemporally chaotic state in open flow systems consisting of coupled oscillators. Results are obtained for an experimental system consisting of unidirectionally coupled diode resonator circuits as well as for the coupled map lattice, a numerical model made up of coupled logistic maps. Both systems exhibit convective instability and high-dimensional, complex spatiotemporal behavior. In each system spatial wave forms are stabilized by fixing appropriate temporal periods at the first oscillator. The other elements assume the periodicity of the first, yet exhibit spatially varying amplitudes which have an associated wavelength and are in general spatially quasiperiodic. © 1995 The American Physical Society.