Duffing–van der Pol oscillator type dynamics in Murali–Lakshmanan–Chua (MLC) circuit

•Proposed an electronic circuit with diode based nonlinear element equivalent to a well known Murali–Lakshmanan–Chua (MLC) circuit.•For chosen circuit parameters this circuit admits familiar MLC type attractor and also Duffing–van der Pol circuit type chaotic attractor.•The performance of the circuit is investigated by means of explicit laboratory experiments, numerical simulations and analytical studies.

We have constructed a simple second-order dissipative nonautonomous circuit exhibiting ordered and chaotic behaviour. This circuit is the well known Murali–Lakshmanan–Chua(MLC) circuit but with diode based nonlinear element. For chosen circuit parameters this circuit admits familiar MLC type attractor and also Duffing–van der Pol circuit type chaotic attractors. It is interesting to note that depending upon the circuit parameters the circuit shows both period doubling route to chaos and quasiperiodic route to chaos. In our study we have constructed two-parameter bifurcation diagrams in the forcing amplitude–frequency plane, one parameter bifurcation diagrams, Lyapunov exponents, 0–1 test and phase portrait. The performance of the circuit is investigated by means of laboratory experiments, numerical integration of appropriate mathematical model and explicit analytic studies.