SYNCHRONIZATION AND CONTROL IN THE DYNAMICS OF DOUBLE LAYER CHARGE STRUCTURES. AUTONOMOUS STOCHASTIC RESONANCE

In this paper we present experimental observations and computational results on autonomous stochastic resonance in a double layer (DL) charge structure. The DL under investigation is generated in the inter-anode space of a twin electrical discharge. We investigate the dynamics of this structure as reflected in the light emission from the DL area of the plasma. In a restricted range of the inter-anode biasing, the DL shows a transition between steady state and periodical dynamics. The superposition of Gaussian noise can induce such a transition without any periodic signal being injected into the system. With increasing of the biasing, the signal to noise ratio versus the noise level is a curve with a maximum, characteristic of stochastic resonance. As computational model, we consider a modified van der Pol oscillator perturbed by Gaussian noise. This model is found to well reproduce the experimentally observed dynamics.