Droplets with Information Processing Ability
Jan Szymanski, Joanna Natalia Gorecka, Yasuhiro Igarashi, Konrad Gizynski, Jerzy Gorecki, Klaus-Peter Zauner and Maurits De Planque
Nonlinear chemical medium can be used to perform information processing functions. In typical applications information is coded in excitation pulses and required operations are performed by interaction of pulses forced by intentionally introduced geometrical structure of the medium. Here we describe a structured system that seems promising for information processing. It is composed of droplets, covered with a lipid layer, that contain reagents of Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction. The presence of lipids stabilizes the droplets so they do not merge in time scale much longer than that characteristic for chemical phenomena. On the basis of experimental results for period of oscillations within droplets we fit parameters of Rovinsky-Zhabotinsky model that qualitatively describes system evolution. This model for oscillations is used to predict the experimental conditions at which the medium becomes excitable and estimate the size of droplets for which a chemical signal diode can be constructed.
Keywords: Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction, droplets, lipids, signal diode