Spatiotemporal intermittency and scaling laws in inhomogeneous coupled map lattices

We study the phenomenon of intermittency in an inhomogeneous lattice of coupled maps where the inhomogeneity appears in the form of different values of the map parameter at adjacent sites. This system exhibits spatiotemporal intermittency as well as purely spatial intermittency accompanied by temporal periodicity in different regions of the parameter space. Both types of intermittency appear as a result of bifurcations of codimension two in such systems. We identify the types of bifurcations that are seen. The intermittency near the bifurcation points and lines is associated with power-law distributions for the laminar lengths. The scaling laws for the laminar length distributions are obtained. Two distinct types of scaling behavior characterized by power laws with exponents that fall in two distinct ranges can be seen in the neighborhood of codimension-two bifurcation points. Additionally we find two crossover exponents. © 2002 The American Physical Society.