Statistics and scaling behavior of chaotic domains in a liquid crystal light valve with rotated feedback

An optical system containing a liquid crystal light valve and a two-dimensi onal feedback is known to form a wide variety of ordered and disordered spa tial structures [Akhmanov et al., J. Opt. Sec. Am. B 9, 78 (1992)]. Here we describe a spatiotemporal feature-chaotic domains, obtained under temporal modulation of the input beam. We characterize these structures using a geo metrical and a statistical approach. We find that the system retains low-di mensional dynamics locally while exhibiting spatiotemporal chaos. A power s caling relation between the size of the chaotic domains and the spatial cou pling length of the system is also obtained from the experimental measureme nts. Good overall agreement is found between experimental results and the n umerical integration of model equations. [S1063-651X(99)12803-4].