We investigate spatiotemporal chaos dynamics in a finite nanoparticles array with Kerr-type nonlinear response, excited by an incident plane wave of varying intensity and tunable frequency close to the localized plasmon resonance of a single particle. Considering dipole-dipole coupling between the nanoparticles described by their polarizability, we compute the temporal evolution of the dipoles and numerically extract the Lyapunov spectra, allowing us to characterize different dynamical behaviors. Furthermore, we estimate the Kaplan-Yorke dimension that provides a measure of the strange attractor complexity. We show that time-modulated solutions which are generated at the onset of modulational instability experience secondary instabilities leading to a complex nonlinear dynamic. It is also shown that in the highly nonlinear regime, the spatiotemporal chaos is robust and exists in a large range of parameters that we have determined numerically.

The route to chaos of a plasmonic dimer formed of two identical nanoparticles with Kerr-type nonlinear response and illuminated by an external electric field is reported. It is shown that this system has a complex dynamical behavior with chaotic nature. This complexity is analyzed using Lyapunov exponents, the Kaplan-Yorke dimension, and correlation dimensions. The existence of familiar period-doubling sequences route to chaos is pointed out, and domains corresponding to the onset of period doubling and chaos in the plane of parameters are evidenced.

We report the experimental observation of a modulation instability induced Kerr frequency comb in an all fiber Fabry–Pérot resonator. We fully characterized, in intensity and phase, the frequency comb using a commercial 10 MHz resolution heterodyne detection system to reveal more than 125 comb teeth within each of the modulation instability sidelobes. Moreover, we were able to reveal the fine temporal structure in phase and intensity of the output Turing patterns. The experimental results are generally in good agreement with numerical simulations.