Front reversals, wave traps, and twisted spirals in periodically forced oscillatory media.
A new kind of nonlinear nonequilibrium patterns--twisted spiral waves--is predicted for periodically forced oscillatory reaction-diffusion media. We show, furthermore, that, in such media, spatial regions with modified local properties may act as traps where propagating waves can be stored and released in a controlled way. Underlying both phenomena is the effect of the wavelength-dependent propagation reversal of traveling phase fronts, always possible when homogeneous oscillations are modulationally stable without forcing. The analysis is performed using as a model the complex Ginzburg-Landau equation, applicable for reaction-diffusion systems in the vicinity of a supercritical Hopf bifurcation.
Rudzick
Oliver
O
Abteilung Physikalische Chemie, Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Faradayweg 4-6, D-14195 Berlin, Germany. rudzick@fhi-berlin.mpg.de
Mikhailov
Alexander S
AS