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CHAOTIC OSCILLATIONS IN DELAYED-FEEDBACK ELECTRONIC

OSCILLATORS

Conference Paper · May 2003

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 CHAOTIC OSCILLATIONS IN DELAYED-FEEDBACK
ELECTRONIC OSCILLATORS
N.M. Ryskin, A.M. Shigaev

Department of Nonlinear Physics, Saratov State University,

155, Moskovskaya str., Saratov, 410026, Russia.
e-mail: Andrew_M_Shigaev@gmx.net

Abstract — Complex nonlinear dynamics and A
+ γA = αei θ ( 1 − A ( t − 1 ) 2 ) A ( t − 1 ) (1)

chaos in several delayed feedback electronic
oscillators are studied. The model of a delayed
feedback oscillator with cubic nonlinearity and
several models of a microwave klystron oscillator
are considered. The mechanism of self-modulation
and scenarios of transition to chaos in these systems
are investigated in details. Presented results help to
find the common features specific for distributed
systems with delayed feedback and to take an
advantage in understanding of peculiarities of
nonlinear dynamics of systems with many degrees of
freedom.
I. INTRODUCTION
Powerful sources of chaotic microwave radiation
have a great potential for application in chaotic-
based communications, noise radar technology, and
microwave plasma heating. Among the most
important are oscillators with delayed feedback that
are capable to demonstrate complex chaotic
dynamics [1,2]. Delayed-feedback systems also play
a significant role in nonlinear optics, biophysics, etc.
Thus the study of such systems helps in
understanding of peculiarities of the complex
dynamics of systems with many degrees of freedom.
This paper deals with a number of models of
delayed feedback oscillators described by
differential time-delay equations. Among them are
models of the oscillator with a cubic nonlinearity
and of the microwave klystron oscillator with
delayed feedback. The general mechanisms of self-
modulation and transition to chaos scenarios in all
considered systems were determined.
II. DELAYED FEEDBACK OSCILLATOR
WITH CUBIC NONLINEARITY
In order to understand the basic peculiar features
of nonlinear dynamics of systems with delayed
feedback we consider the following system:
Here, A is the slowly varying complex amplitude of
oscillations; α and γ are the parameters of gain
and dissipation, respectively; and θ is a signal phase
shift during a delay time (that is normalized to
unity). This equation describes, for example, the
dynamics of Van der Pol triode oscillator with a
delay line in an anode circuit in case of grid
characteristic being described by a cubic
polynomial. In an absence of a delayed feedback the
Eq. (1) is easily recognized to be the shortened Van
der Pol equation or the Landau equation [1-3] which
could be met in different branches of physics
describing the dynamics near the point of
supercritical Hopf bifurcation. Thus we can expect
(1) to be the universal model for studying self-
oscillating delayed-feedback systems.
Fig. 1. Eigenmodes of the delayed feedback oscillator
Self-excitation conditions, regimes of stationary
single-frequency oscillations, and their stability
criteria could be determined analytically. After the
linearization of (1) one can obtain the equation for
frequencies of oscillations:
ω
= −tg ( ω − θ ) . (2)
γ
This is a transcendential equation, that has an
infinite number of solutions. That is due to the
infinite-dimensional nature of the system. Fig. 1
illustrates the graphical solution. We enumerate
roots of (2) as it is shown on the figure. It could be
shown that only the roots with even numbers should
be considered. The analysis of stability conditions
shows that the threshold of self-excitation is
2π -periodic in θ and looks as it is shown on Fig. 2.
There are domains (2m − 1)π < θ < (2m + 1)π
that we will call oscillation zones.
of oscillation zones. Depending on initial conditions
one of two neighboring modes could be excited.
Each of these modes has different scenarios of
transition to chaos. The fundamental mode (the
mode that has a lower threshold of self-excitation)
undergoes a sequence of bifurcations of period
doubling. The more we are close to the edge of the
generation zone, the less number of bifurcations are
possible to be observed. Then the hard transition to a
single-frequency self-modulation happens with a
following transition to quasi-periodical self-
modulation. Further one more transition to chaos via
Ruelle-Takens scenario is observed.

Fig. 2. The self-excitation threshold

on the ( α, θ ) parameter plane

It could be shown that stationary single-

frequency solutions become unstable with the
increase of α with respect to satellite perturbations.
Frequencies of these satellites could also be found
from (2), but now we should consider solutions with
Fig. 3. The bifurcation diagram in a complex dynamics
odd numbers. Since they could be excited only if the
area for the secondary mode at γ = 0.3 , θ = 0.9π .
amplitude of fundamental mode oscillations is
sufficiently large we will call these perturbations as
self-modulation modes. The origin of the instability
is an amplitude nonlinearity of the device, i.e. a
driving curve (output power vs. input power) must
exhibit a branch with sufficiently high negative
slope. Following [4] this is called an amplitude
mechanism of self-modulation.
Numerical simulation of non-stationary processes
reveals existence of a variety of limit cycles of
different shapes corresponding to regimes of
periodical self-modulation. The studied system
demonstrates continuous complication of shapes of
limit cycles and hard transitions between them. The Fig. 4. Phase portrait and spectrum after the attractors
last effect is attended with a hopping of frequency of joining: γ = 1 , θ = 0.9π , α = 5.68
self-modulation. At γ
1 transitions between
cycles are soft while at larger γ hard transitions are The secondary mode always demonstrates the
dominating. quasi-periodical route to chaos. This is illustrated by
The transitions to chaos with the increase of α the bifurcation diagram presented on Fig. 3. A lot of
were studied numerically in details. When θ lies windows of the periodical motion could be seen
near the centers of oscillation zones the Feigenbaum inside the chaotic domain. In some of them the
scenario takes place. Much more complicated Feigenbaum cascade could be observed. This
dynamics is exhibited by the system (1) at the edges associates with doubling of resonant cycle on torus.
 At the nonequilibrium parameter values much
larger then the threshold of chaotic operation the
joining of the attractors based on fundamental and
secondary modes is observed. For this model this
effect first time was detected in [5]. Such an effect
was also detected in an experiment [6]. The
dynamics of the studied system could be illustrated
with the Fig. 4. It is a random switching between
two attractors and could be named chaotic
intermittency. The spectrum of a signal has two
peaks against the homogeneous background noise.
Such regimes are peculiar for distributed systems
and are known as a developed chaos (see for
example [6,7]).
III. DELAYED FEEDBACK MICROWAVE
KLYSTRON OSCILLATORS
A delayed feedback oscillator based on a multiple
cavity klystron amplifier seems to be one of the most
promising chaotic generators owing to high power
level and high efficiency. We have developed
several theoretical models of klystron
oscillators [8,9] in a form of systems of delayed
differential equations. For example, the model of a
three-cavity klystron may be written as follows
F
1 + 2γF1 = m γ 2F3 ( τ − 1 )e −i ψ ,
F
F
2 + γF2 = −2iαJ 1 ( F1 ) 1 ,
F1
 F1 (3)
F
3 + 2γF3 = −2iα  J 0 ( F2 )J 1 ( 2 F1 )
 F1
F 
+J 0 ( F1 ) J 1 ( F2 ) 2 .
F2 
Here F1,2,3 are the dimensionless amplitudes of
high-frequency voltages on cavity’s gaps that are
assumed to be slowly varying in comparison with
the cavity eigenfrequency, τ is the normalized time,
and J 0,1 are the Bessel functions of relevant order.
In (3) there are three control parameters: the total
phase shift during signal pass through the feedback
loop ψ , the gain parameter α , that is proportional
to the gain in a single cascade, and the amount of
feedback m ( 0 < m < 1 ). We assume all the
cavities to have the same resonant frequencies and
characteristic impedances, the distance between each
two neighboring cavities to be the same, and the
input and output cavities to be perfectly matched
with the feedback transmission line.
In analogy with study of model of a delayed
feedback oscillator with cubic nonlinearity a
comprehensive theoretical analysis of self-excitation
conditions, steady-state single frequency
oscillations, and self-modulation conditions (i.e.
instabilities of steady-state regimes) is carried out
for the two-cavity klystron [8,9]. It has revealed
conceptually the same peculiarities of dynamics of
concerned systems in comparison to the system
studied in Sec. I. Among them is 2π -periodic in ψ
self-excitation threshold - “oscillation zones”. Each
zone corresponds to one eigenmode of an oscillator.
In the centers of the zones, at ψ = ψopt , threshold
value of α (and thus starting current) is minimal.
Near the boundaries of two adjacent zones there is a
region of bistability and oscillation hysteresis where
either of the two eigenmodes can survive as a result
of a mode competition process, depending on the
initial conditions. The theoretical results agree well
with the numerical simulation. As an example, Fig. 5
represents the self-excitation and self-modulation
boundaries on the α, ψ parameter plane, calculated
for the model of a three-cavity klystron (3).
Fig. 5. Boundaries of self-excitation and self-modulation
on the α, ψ plane for three-cavity klystron, γ = 0.5 ,
m = 0.1 , ψopt ≈ 0.7 π ; B —region of bistability.
Increasing of either the beam current, or the
amount of feedback, leads to self-modulation
instability when output signal amplitude begins to
oscillate around the stationary value. Soft
appearance of two sidebands equally spaced about
the fundamental frequency is observed in the
spectrum.
Further increasing of the current leads to
transition to chaos. The bifurcation scenarios are of a
great variety depending on the control parameters,
however in analogy with (1) some general
 conclusions may be worked out. Near the center of
oscillation zone a period doubling (Feigenbaum)
scenario takes place; good agreement with the
universal scaling laws typical to this scenario [1-3]
is observed. While the beam current increases
multiple transitions between regular and chaotic
self-modulation regimes occur. This is illustrated by
Fig. 6 where a typical example of a single-parameter
bifurcation diagram is presented. Near the
boundaries of the oscillation zones the scenario is
more complicated owing to the bistability and mode
competition effects, not only period doubling but
also quasi-periodic route to chaos becomes possible.
a
b Dordrecht, 1989).
Fig. 6. Typical single-parameter bifurcation diagram in a
center of oscillation zone for the two-cavity klystron (a)
and its enlarged fragment showing period doublings (b).
The numerical results were confirmed by
experimental research carried out on an S-band five-
cavity klystron of medium power level with double-
gap cavities operating in π-mode [8,10]. The input
cavity was connected with the output one by a
coaxial feedback line, which is about 8 m long. To
identify the oscillating regimes, oscillograms of the
output signal envelope, its full spectrum, phase
portrait, and averaged power level were measured.
As control parameters, the electron beam current and
the level of the feedback were used. By tuning the
beam current and the level of feedback chaotic
oscillations with 30 MHz bandwidth and 30 W
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output power were detected. Experimentally
observed self-excitation and self-modulation
thresholds, self-modulation frequencies and
transition to chaos scenario are in a good qualitative
agreement with theoretical ones.
IV. CONCLUSION
Several models of delayed-feedback electronic
oscillators were studied. Deep analogy between the
dynamics of them was revealed that lets us to
consider their basic peculiarities to be common
features of the whole class of nonlinear systems with
delayed feedback.
The theoretical results being proved in experiment
allow us to consider the klystron oscillator with
delayed feedback as an expectant radiation source in
engineering tasks claiming high power microwave
chaotic radiation.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was supported by the USA Civilian Research
and Development Foundation (Award No. REC-006) and
by the Program “Universities of Russia — Basic
Researches” (Grant No. 01.01.021) and Russian
Foundation for Basic Research.
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