Interaction of rotating waves in an active chemical medium

Abstract The interaction of autowave sources is experimentally studied in an active chemical medium with excitable kinetics. Three types of vortices are considered: 1) A spiral wave (S) rotating in a simply-connected medium, 2) A spiral wave rotating around a hole (SH); and 3) A spiral wave (S N ) with topological charge N . It is found that S synchronizes SH (except very small holes), and spiral waves with lower topological charge synchronize those with higher topological charge. It is also found that the interaction of autowave sources displays some unique properties because of their ability to appear on inhomogeities, to vanish and to move in the medium. A new phenomen of induced drift of spiral waves is demonstrated. The drift was induced by high-frequency concentrational waves propagating in the medium. A similar drift is observed upon interaction of vortices. The mechanism of the induced drift is explained in terms of wave-break translocation from one wave to another. Using this effect, one can control the location of wave sources in an active medium.