Controlling turbulence in a surface chemical reaction by time-delay autosynchronization

A global time-delay feedback scheme is implemented experimentally to control chemical turbulence in the catalytic CO oxidation on a Pt(110) single crystal surface. The reaction is investigated under ultrahigh vacuum conditions by means of photoemission electron microscopy. We present results showing that turbulence can be efficiently suppressed by applying time-delay autosynchronization. Hysteresis effects are found in the transition regime from turbulence to homogeneous oscillations. At optimal delay time, we find a discontinuity in the oscillation period that can be understood in terms of an analytical investigation of a phase equation with time-delay autosynchronization. The experimental results are reproduced in numerical simulations of a realistic reaction model.