Complex-periodic spiral waves are investigated extensively in the oscillatory medium. In this paper, the linearly polarized electric field (LPEF) is employed to induce complex-periodic spiral waves in the excitable medium with abnormal dispersion. As the amplitude of LPEF is increased beyond a threshold, the simple-periodic spiral wave converts into an irregularly complex-periodic one, in which, the local dynamics exhibit several regular spikes followed by one missed spiking period. Furthermore, with the increase of the LPEF amplitude, the missed spiking period follows different numbers of regular spikes [so-called period-1 (P-1), period-2 (P-2), etc.], even a mix of different periods. Meanwhile, the wavelength of the spiral wave transits from a short to a longer one. The pure-periodic (from P-6 to P-2) spirals generally contain defect lines, across which the phase of local oscillation changes by [Formula: see text]. In contrast, there is no defect line in the mixed-periodic spiral waves. This finding indicates that the defect line is not a necessary feature for complex-periodic spiral waves. Moreover, three types of tip trajectories of pure-periodic spiral waves are identified depending on the periods. That is, the outward-petal meandering, the outward-petal meandering with slow modulation, and drifting tip motion, and the tip trajectories could be used to distinguish them from the complex-oscillatory spiral waves.
Spiral wave in an inhomogeneous excitable medium
