LOCALIZATION OF A NONLINEAR SWITCHING WAVE IN AN ACTIVE BISTABLE MEDIUM WITH AN ISOLATED INHOMOGENEITY

An analysis is made of the one-dimensional propagation of a switching wave in an active medium when one of the parameters of the medium is a function of the coordinate over a certain region and remains constant outside this region. The possibility of localization (stopping) of th e wave at this type of inhomogeneity is investigated. An analytical ex pression is obtained for the wave shift in the case of a small-amplitu de inhomogeneity. Constraints on the amplitude and length of the inhom ogeneity at which localization takes place are obtained for an inhomog eneity of finite dimensions. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.