Homoclinic chaos for ray optics in a fiber (Q1181165)

In the framework of the Hamiltonian description of an axisymmetric, translation-invariant medium, i.e. where the refraction index is a radial function, it is shown in the geometrical optics approximation that standard attractors exist. Furthermore, it is shown for these structures, that special symmetry-breaking perturbations of the refraction index destroy these attractors and move the system into homoclinic chaos and Arnol'd diffusion.