Controlling spatiotemporal chaos.

A method for controlling spatiotemporal chaos in certain classes of spatially extended systems is proposed. In these systems, unstable defects emit convectively unstable waves which subsequently break and may nucleate new defects. Control is achieved via the stabilization of one such active wave source, which then sweeps all of the chaotic fluctuations to the system boundaries. This method is applied to the one- and two-dimensional complex Ginzburg-Landau equation, and to a recent model of spiral breakup in excitable media.