Discrete homoclinic orbits in a laser with feedback

Abstract

We provide experimental evidence of the discrete character of homoclinic chaos in a laser with feedback. We show that the narrow chaotic windows are distributed exponentially as a function of a control parameter. The number of consecutive chaotic regions corresponds to the number of loops around the saddle focus responsible for Shilnikov chaos. The characterization of homoclinic chaos is also done through the return map of the return times at a suitable reference point.