We study the interaction of meandering spiral waves within the framework of a modified Oregonator model for the light-sensitive Belousov-Zhabotinskii medium. In this medium the local excitation threshold can be controlled by varying the intensity of incident light. At low as well as sufficiently high light intensity we find stable axis-symmetric bound states consisting of two counterrotating spirals. At intensity values in between, spiral pairs undergo a symmetry-breaking instability, leading to one spiral suppressing and expelling the other. To avoid the instability, we consider a spiral wave interacting with its mirror image close to a plane boundary impermeable to diffusion. The drift velocity and the drift direction of those pseudobound states parallel to the boundary are strongly influenced by the light intensity.

• Received 1 June 1999

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.60.6429