Abstract

The study of chaos has been of considerable recent interest. Most recent studies^1–3 concentrate on the periodic waveforms observed in the domains between stable and erratic behavior, which are referred to as routes to chaos. The period doubling route of Feigenbaurn⁴ is subject to quantitative test and, when observed, is regarded as strong evidence of chaotic behavior. However, many systems showing erratic behavior do not have doubling sequences,¹ and some cases with doubling sequences do not even show qualitative agreement with the Feigenbaum prediction,³ In addition, the route to chaos can be non-unique² at one set of parameters. Hence it is unclear whether experimental studies of routes to chaos can yield unambiguous evidence for chaos.

© 1984 Optical Society of America