Optical textures: characterizing spatiotemporal chaos

Macroscopic systems subjected to injection and dissipation of energy can exhibit complex spatiotemporal behaviors as result of dissipative self-organization. Here, we report a one- and two-dimensional pattern forming setup, which exhibits a transition from stationary patterns to spatiotemporal chaotic textures, based on a nematic liquid crystal layer with spatially modulated input beam and optical feedback. Using an adequate projection of spatiotemporal diagrams, we determine the largest Lyapunov exponent. Jointly, this exponent and Fourier transform allow us to distinguish between spatiotemporal chaos and amplitude turbulence concepts, which are usually merged. (C) 2016 Optical Society of America.