Images of synchronized chaos: Experiments with circuits

Synchronization of oscillations underlies organized dynamical behavior of many physical, biological and other systems. Recent studies of the dynamics of coupled systems with complex behavior indicate that synchronization can occur not only in case of periodic oscillations, but also in regimes of chaotic oscillations. Using experimental observations of chaotic oscillations in coupled nonlinear circuits we discuss a few forms of cooperative behavior that are related to the regimes of synchronized chaos. This paper is prepared under the request of the editors of the special focus issue of Chaos and contains the materials for the lecture at the International School in Nonlinear Science, "Nonlinear Waves: Synchronization and Patterns," Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia, 1995. The main goal of the paper is to outline the collection of examples that illustrate the state of the art of chaos synchronization. (c) 1996 American Institute of Physics.