RESUMO
A small change of one of the system parameters may not in general convert a bistable system to a monostable system. However, an external control in the form of a slow periodic parameter modulation can annihilate one of the coexisting states, and thus results in controlled monostability. The annihilation takes place because the state becomes chaotic via the period doubling route and the chaotic state undergoes boundary crisis within a small range of the control amplitude. These features are observed theoretically in two standard models, namely, Henon map and laser rate equations, and confirmed experimentally in a cavity loss modulated CO2 laser.
RESUMO
We provide experimental evidence of the discrete character of homoclinic chaos in a laser with feedback. We show that the narrow chaotic windows are distributed exponentially as a function of a control parameter. The number of consecutive chaotic regions corresponds to the number of loops around the saddle focus responsible for Shilnikov chaos. The characterization of homoclinic chaos is also done through the return map of the return times at a suitable reference point.