Stabilizing Long-period Orbits in Chaotic Oscillators with Open-source Hardware

We show the stabilization of a chaotic oscillator circuit to an unstable, period-77 orbit using open-source hardware. Period-34 orbits have been stabilized previously in a demonstration that serves as a valuable educational resource for studying nonlinear dynamics. This experiment instructs students on the underlying nature of chaos, however, computers with relatively expensive data acquisition systems limit the experiment's accessibility. We impose upon the prevalence of open-source hardware paired with the general advancement of electronics to give a broader platform for experimentation with chaotic systems in an undergraduate laboratory setting. We aim to remove expense and add convenience to an edifying experiment that shows the inner structure of chaotic attractors as unstable, period orbits.