Self-organized Periodic Lattices of Chaotic Defects

A novel type of self-organized lattice in which chaotic defects are arranged periodically is reported for a coupled map model of open flow. We find that temporally chaotic defects are followed by spatial relaxation to an almost periodic state when suddenly a next defect appears. The distance between successive defects is found to be generally predetermined and diverging logarithmically when approaching a certain critical point. The phenomena are analyzed and shown to be explicable as the results of a boundary crisis for the spatially extended system.