Spatio-temporal laser forcing on an oscillatory/excitable electrochemical system

Abstract

The effect of spatially localized, time-periodic forcing on the Fe∣1 M H₂SO₄ system is studied experimentally within the oscillatory and excitable region. The electrode surface is perturbed locally or globally by a laser beam. The resulting response depends strongly on the period and phase of the external forcing. When periodic laser perturbations are applied to the excitable state, the resulting response is large excitations for a large forcing period and pairs of small and large excitations for a small forcing period. During autonomous oscillations the response is entrained either completely or by combinations of autonomous and excitable peaks. A systematic procedure is applied, based on single perturbation experiments, for the construction of one-dimensional maps for the periodically forced oscillator. A mathematical model is proposed for the description of the dynamical phenomena induced by the laser light. The model equations predict most of the experimental findings.