THE ROLE OF CURVATURE AND PULSE WIDTH FOR TRANSITION TO UNSTABLE WAVE FRONTS IN THE BELOUSOV-ZHABOTINSKY REACTION

Systematic measurements of the stability of chemical waves were carried out over a wide range of reagent concentrations in the cerium-catalyzed Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction. The critical radius and the width of the autocatalyst band in the wave fronts were measured in order to verify the computed prediction for the region of parameters where lateral instabilities of the wave ends appear. The data yield an experimental parameter set for the onset of unstable behavior and allow a discussion about different theoretical descriptions of the critical curvature.