Controlling High-Dimensional Chaos in Optical Devices

摘要

The primary purpose of the proposed program is to develop methods for controlling and synchronizing the behavior of optical and electronic systems that display complicated behavior, such as high-dimensional chaos and turbulent-like behavior. The results of the program have the following potential applications: increasing the coherence of high-power lasers and nonlinear optical devices, developing an entirely new class of high-speed digital communications system based on chaotic elements, devising ultra-high speed methods for generating random numbers for distributed communications networks, and in new techniques for computing with chaotic systems. The authors are especially interested in determining techniques for controlling systems that show complexity in both space and time. Specifically, they are trying to understand whether the behavior of such systems can be controlled by applying perturbations to the system at one or a few control locations, rather than at every spatial point of the device. From the results of this experiment, the number of controllers needed to stabilize the entire pattern will be determined. In addition, these results will determine how information spreads and is lost as it is injected into a complex system, with potential implications for communication and computation with chaotic devices. This report summarizes the results of research in the following areas: ultra-low- light-level all-optical switching, high-speed chaotic electronic oscillators, bifurcation analysis of a time-delay system with band-limited feedback, high- speed chaos in an optical feedback system with flexible time scales, controlling fast chaos, and semiconductor lasers with controlled current inputs. A list of 18 research papers resulting from this contract is included.