Experimental Study on the Nonlinear Dynamics of Coupled Charged Rotators

Abstract

In this letter we report the observation of nonlinear dynamics of a needle rotator system placed in a strong homogeneous electric field, in which each rotator couples with others through long-range Coulomb interaction. Nonlinear dynamics of the single rotator and that of two rotators which have different parameters from each other are studied. Bifurcation including locked and unlocked states and hysteresis phenomena are demonstrated. The rotator system proposed here will provide the first globally coupled mechanical oscillator system.