Experimental Observation of Simultaneously Existing Moving and Standing Patterns in a Gas-Discharge System

In a quasi 1-dimensional lateral gas-discharge system we observe experimentally sub- and supercritical bifurcations from a spatially homogeneous to an inhomogeneous distribution of the current density. Among other results we find for the first time the simultaneous existence of a nontrivial nonstationary pattern (travelling waves) with a nontrivial stationary pattern (periodic filaments) in a laterally extended dc-driven gas-discharge system.