Coexisting attractors and chaotic canard explosions in a slow-fast optomechanical system

TL;DR

This paper experimentally investigates complex multiscale dynamics in an optomechanical system, revealing chaotic canard explosions and coexistence of multiple attractors, supported by a detailed physical model.

Contribution

It demonstrates the occurrence of chaotic canard explosions and coexisting attractors in a high-finesse optomechanical resonator, extending understanding of slow-fast dynamical systems.

Findings

Chaotic canard explosions observed during transition regimes.

Coexistence of multiple attractors with different time scales.

Experimental results match detailed physical model predictions.

Abstract

The multiple time scale dynamics induced by radiation pressure and photothermal effects in a high-finesse optomechanical resonator is experimentally studied. At difference with two-dimensional slow-fast systems, the transition from the quasiharmonic to the relaxational regime occurs via chaotic canard explosions, where large-amplitude relaxation spikes are separated by an irregular number of subthreshold oscillations. We also show that this regime coexists with other periodic attractors, on which the trajectories evolve on a substantially faster time scale. The experimental results are reproduced and analyzed by means of a detailed physical model of our system.