Signals of chaotic behavior in PMMA

The time evolution of the current passing through PMMA polymer thin films under 10 V at 23degreesC (296 K) was sampled at intervals ranging from 1 to 20 s. The data showed chaotic behavior in the context of pinned charge density waves [Phys. Rev. B 41 (1990) 11522]. The resultant time series has been analyzed by means of TISEAN, time series analysis software [The TISEAN package CHAOS 9 (1999) 413]. The analysis has revealed a positive maximal Lyapunov exponent. This is also corroborated by a calculation of the fractal dimension and application of the Kaplan-Yorke conjecture. In the analysis two widely separated time scales have been observed; the first zero crossing of the correlation function at 8380 s and the first marked minimum of the average mutual information at 40 s.