  The effects of disorder in external forces on the dynamical behavior of
coupled nonlinear oscillator networks are studied. When driven synchronously,
i.e., all driving forces have the same phase, the networks display chaotic
dynamics. We show that random phases in the driving forces result in regular,
periodic network behavior. Intermediate phase disorder can produce network
synchrony. Specifically, there is an optimal amount of phase disorder, which
can induce the highest level of synchrony. These results demonstrate that the
spatiotemporal structure of external influences can control chaos and lead to
synchronization in nonlinear systems.
