Observation of Boolean Chaos

Daniel Gauthier

Duke University, Department of Physics, Durham, USA

Daniel J. Gauthier, Rui Zhang, Hugo L. D. de S. Cavalcante, Zheng Gao, Joshua E. S. Socolar, Matthew M. Adams, Daniel P. Lathrop

We observe deterministic chaos in a simple network of electronic logic gates that are not regulated by a clocking signal. The resulting power spectrum is ultra-wide-band, extending from dc to beyond 2 GHz. The observed behavior is reproduced qualitatively using an autonomously updating Boolean model with signal propagation times that depend on the recent history of the gates and filtering of pulses of short duration, whose presence is confirmed experimentally. Electronic Boolean chaos may find application as an ultra-wide-band source of radio waves.

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