Chaos and dynamics of rays in waveguide media

This unique and timely work is devoted to the problems of ray theory of long-range wave propagation in regularly inhomogeneous media using the modern theory of dynamic systems. The author, updating an old field with modern methods, uses the general concepts of ray dynamics and some fairly simple notions of nonlinear dynamics to define the subject, making the rading easy for even non-specialists. The essential ideas are initially formulated with waveguides and resonators, after which the more complicated problems of nonlinear ray dynamics in mobile and heterogeneous media are discussed. This original material encompasses such concepts as nonlinear resonance, chaos, the devil's ladder, and kinetics.S.S. Abdullaev is at the Institute for Biocybernetics, Uzbekistan Academy of Sciences, Tashkent. He has been specialising in the theory of wave propagation since 1975.