EXPERIMENTAL-STUDY OF STATIONARY TURING PATTERNS AND THEIR INTERACTION WITH TRAVELING WAVES IN A CHEMICAL-SYSTEM

We give a brief review of recent observations of Turing patterns in an isothermal single-phase chemical system. The basic principles of open spatial reactors used in the experiments are described. Different types of one-, two- and three-dimensional symmetry breaking reaction-diffusion patterns are discussed in relation with the geometric dimensions of the reactors and with the localization of the patterned regions in the concentration ramps. We also present a set of new spatiotemporal structures resulting from the interaction of the Turing (spatial) and Hopf (temporal) instabilities. Among other things, these interactions lead to antisymmetric wave sources in quasi-one-dimensional systems and to spatiotemporal intermittency in quasi-two-dimensional systems. We also report on a ''cell splitting'' growth mechanism of stationary patterns after a supercritical change in parameter value beyond the onset of the Turing instability.