SPATIOTEMPORAL CHAOS DUE TO ATTRACTOR-MERGING IN AN IKEDA-LIKE SYSTEM

We report a bifurcation series into spatio-temporal chaos in an Ikeda- like model with a transverse diffraction term. The transitions are qua ntitatively described by correlation functions and Lyapunov exponents. It turns out that the bifurcations are caused by spatially localized connections of separate attractor regions, thus leading to spatial coe xistence and final merging of these different regions. Since this is a generalization of attractor merging in low-dimensional systems to spa tially extended systems, the bifurcations display the phenomena and th e scaling behaviour of intermittent transitions in low-dimensional sys tems. Results are discussed with respect to their relevance for nonlin ear optical systems in general.