  We describe conditions under which higher-dimensional billiard models in
bounded, convex regions are fully chaotic, generalizing the Bunimovich stadium
to dimensions above two. An example is a three-dimensional stadium bounded by a
cylinder and several planes; the combination of these elements may give rise to
defocusing, allowing large chaotic regions in phase space. By studying families
of marginally-stable periodic orbits that populate the residual part of phase
space, we identify conditions under which a nonlinear instability mechanism
arises in their vicinity. For particular geometries, this mechanism rather
induces stable nonlinear oscillations, including in the form of
whispering-gallery modes.
