CONTROLLING CHAOTIC STATES OF A PIERCE DIODE

A recently developed nonlinear approach to control chaos is applied to the Pierce diode. In the latter, both (kinetic) virtual cathode oscil lations and (hydrodynamic) plasma oscillations appear. Via the period doubling route, the plasma oscillations can become chaotic. They are, however, usually superimposed by virtual cathode oscillations. Here it is shown that in the hydrodynamic, as well as in the kinetic regime, unstable periodic orbits can be stabilized. The results can be applied to bring the Pierce diode into a well-defined state of microwave osci llations. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S1070-664X(98)03008 -0].