Compensation of curvature effects by illumination

Front deformation of initially planar excitation waves can be observed in nonplanar media or in spatially heterogeneously illuminated systems. The deformation of propagating reaction-diffusion waves in either of these systems has been investigated earlier separately. Here we present a combination of both heterogeneous systems, which can lead to a compensation of wave deformations. Our theoretical analysis of the evolution of propagating excitation waves, based on the framework of a kinematical theory, shows that the curvature effect can be compensated by illumination. Supporting experiments were performed with the light-sensitive Belousov-Zhabotinsky system.