We report on chaotic localized traveling-wave states (pulses) near the onset of electroconvection in a nematic liquid crystal. They coexist with the conduction state, are long lived, appear and die at irregular locations and times, have unique small widths, and vary irregularly in length. In this system there are only four linearly unstable modes. Thus it should be possible to reproduce the dynamics of the pulses by four coupled complex Ginzburg-Landau equations once their coefficients are derived from the equations of motion (the weak-electrolyte model).

• Received 4 March 1996

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.77.2475