Desynchronization and Decoupling of Interacting Oscillators by Nonlinear Delayed Feedback

A novel control method for desynchronization of strongly synchronized populations of interacting oscillators is described. We show that an ensemble's mean field, nonlinearly processed and fed back into the ensemble, causes an effective desynchronization. The method is mild, demand controlled, and robust against system and stimulation parameter variations. The desynchronization and decoupling effects of the method are illustrated by examples of one and two interacting populations of limit-cycle oscillators. We suggest our method for mild and effective deep brain stimulation in neurological diseases characterized by pathological cerebral synchronization.