Self-Organized Multifrequency Clusters in an Oscillating Electrochemical System with Strong Nonlinear Coupling

Abstract

We study the spatiotemporal dynamics of the oscillatory photoelectrodissolution of n-type Si in a fluoride-containing electrolyte under anodic potentials using in situ ellipsometric imaging. When lowering the illumination intensity stepwise, we successively observe uniform oscillations, modulated amplitude clusters, and the coexistence of multifrequency clusters, i.e., regions with different frequencies, with a stationary domain. We argue that the multifrequency clusters emerge due to an adaptive, nonlinear, and nonlocal coupling, similar to those found in the context of neural dynamics.