Vibrational resonance induced by transition of phase-locking modes in excitable systems

We study the occurrence of vibrational resonance as well as the underlying mechanism in excitable systems. The single vibration resonance and vibration bi-resonance are observed when tuning the amplitude and frequency of high-frequency force simultaneously. Furthermore, by virtue of the phase diagram of low-frequency-signal-free FitzHugh-Nagumo model, it is found that each maxima of response measure is located exactly at the transition boundary of phase patterns. Therefore, it is the transition between different phase-locking modes that induces vibrational resonance in the excitable systems. Finally, this mechanism is verified in the Hodgkin-Huxley neural model. Our results provide insights into the transmission of weak signals in nonlinear systems, which are valuable in engineering for potential applications.