We consider a typical class of systems with delayed nonlinearity, which we show to exhibit chaotic diffusion. It is demonstrated that a periodic modulation of the time lag can lead to an enhancement of the diffusion constant by several orders of magnitude. This effect is the largest if the circle map defined by the modulation shows mode locking and, more specifically, fulfills the conditions for laminar chaos. Thus, we establish for the first time a connection between Arnold tongue structures in parameter space and diffusive properties of a system. Counterintuitively, the enhancement of diffusion is accompanied by a strong reduction of the effective dimensionality of the system.

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• Chaos
• Diffusion
• Nonlinear time-delay systems
• Chaos & nonlinear dynamics