RLC resonator with diode nonlinearity: Bifurcation comparison of numerical predictions and circuit measurements

A nonlinear RLC resonator is investigated experimentally and numerically using bifurcation analysis. The nonlinearity is due to the parallel combination of a semiconductor rectifier diode and a fixed capacitor. The diode's junction capacitance, diffusion capacitance, and DC current-voltage relation each contribute to the nonlinearity. The closely related RL-diode resonator has been of interest for many years since its demonstration of period-doubling cascades to chaos. In this study, a direct comparison is made of dynamical regime maps produced from simulations and circuit measurements. The maps show the variety of limit cycles, their bifurcations, and regions of chaos over the 2D parameter space of the source voltage's frequency and amplitude. The similar structures of the simulated and experimental maps suggest that the diode models commonly used in circuit simulators (e.g., SPICE) work well in bifurcation analyses, successfully predicting complex and chaotic dynamics detected in the circuit. These results may be useful for applications of varactor-loaded split ring resonators.