This volume, the third in our unique series on experimental chaos, brings together from a broad range of disciplines, some of the exciting developments of the last two years concerned with the observations, measurements and applications of nonlinear dynamical behaviour. Included are chaos, spatio-temporal chaos and patterns, control of chaos, time series analysis and characterization, pattern recognitions and signal processing. The subjects covered include optics, fluids, condensed matter, astrophysics, biological, chemical and medical sciences, engineering, metreorology and oceanography.

The 2nd experimental chaos conference provided a multidisciplinary forum for the scientific and engineering communities to present recent developments of and techniques in nonlinear dynamics. Major themes included control, synchronization, signal detection/characterization and communication. Major fields of interest included lasers, fluids, magnetics, electronics, chemically reacting fluids, cardiology, neurobiology and environmental sciences.

The 4th Experimental Chaos Conference was a forum for members of the scientific and engineering communities to discuss recent developments in, and techniques of, experimental nonlinear dynamics. The focus of this important conference was on actual realizations of nonlinear and chaotic systems. The latest developments in applications of nonlinear dynamics and chaos were presented, the requirement being that all presentations were actually implemented in experiments or devices. The areas covered were spatio-temporal patterns, optical chaos, biological dynamics, communication and synchronization, control of chaotic systems, mechanical dynamics, fluid dynamics, quantum chaos, and chaotic condensed matter systems.

This is the first conference dedicated to the understanding of the experimental aspects of chaotic behavior in several fields and to addressing the emerging areas of data analysis and applications of nonlinear phenomena. Areas covered are data analysis and signal processing techniques, optics, applications of chaotic behavior, magnetism, nonlinear electronic circuits, spatiotemporal chaos, semiconductors, and physiology. Each paper shows real data and what can be done with it. Emphasis is on the manifestation of chaos in real systems, measuring it, analyzing it, and using it in new and unique applications.