Stabilization of unstable states and oscillatory phenomena in an illuminated thermochemical system: theory and experiment

A simple external feedback mechanism is employed to investigate theoretically and experimentally the unstable states, and transitions between stable states, of a bistable illuminated thermochemical system. Bifurcations leading to oscillatory phenomena are predicted and experimentally verified Predictions of chaos are also made. Experimental evidence is reported for the occurrence of tristability and metastability, in the absence of external feedback. OFF