Control of a microfluidic three-ring chemical oscillator network

Inspired by the collective behavior and synchronization patterns, which are a common phenomenon in nature, our work focuses on studying the non-linear dynamics of microfluidic networks of Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) chemical oscillators. In our experiments, the auto-catalytic, light-sensitive, BZ reaction is confined to micro-fabricated wells constructed from the elastomer PDMS. Using soft lithography, PDMS networks are arranged into wells with controlled topology. Each well can be regarded as a single network node that sends and receives inhibitory signals. We are particularly interested in the dynamics of a 3-node ring network. This network exhibits spontaneous chiral behavior. In theory, control over the chirality can be achieved by exploiting the light sensitivity of the BZ catalyst, which can modulate the frequency of a node. In experiment, we perturb the network by changing the light intensity and duration in each of the three BZ wells. This technique provides a model of gait switching in central pattern generators and a dynamic method of information storage.