Robust chaos-the theoretical formulation and experimental evidence

Practical applications of chaos are likely to face problems of reliability because of the existence of multiple attractors and periodic windows in most chaotic dynamical systems. In this paper we show that robust chaos, defined by the absence of periodic windows and coexisting attractors in some neighborhood of the parameter space, can occur in piecewise smooth systems and obtain the conditions of its occurrence. We demonstrate experimental evidence of this phenomenon in power electronic circuits.