The average pressure inside a sonoluminescing bubble in sulfuric acid has been determined by two independent techniques: (1) plasma diagnostics applied to Ar atom emission lines, and (2) light scattering measurements of bubble radius vs time. For dimly luminescing bubbles, both methods yield intracavity pressures $\sim 1500\mathrm{bar}$. Upon stronger acoustic driving of the bubble, the sonoluminescence intensity increases 10 000-fold, spectral lines are no longer resolved, and radius vs time measurements yield internal pressures $>3700\mathrm{bar}$. Implications for a hot inner core are discussed.

The scattering of sound waves by circular-shaped clusters consisting of two-dimensional distributions of rigid cylinders in air is studied in the low-frequency limit (homogenization) both theoretically and experimentally. Analytical formulas for the effective density and sound speed are obtained in the framework of multiple scattering. Here, an experimental demonstration is reported in which a cluster of wooden rods acoustically behaves as a cylinder of argon gas. Moreover, evidence is presented indicating the validity of the homogenization in this cluster at frequencies lower than 3 kHz, which corresponds to a wavelength that is only 4 times the parameter of the embedded lattice and is a quarter of the cluster’s diameter.

Anomalous large thermal conductivity has been observed numerically and experimentally in one- and two-dimensional systems. There is an open debate about the role of conservation of momentum. We introduce a model whose thermal conductivity diverges in dimensions 1 and 2 if momentum is conserved, while it remains finite in dimension $d\ge 3$. We consider a system of harmonic oscillators perturbed by a nonlinear stochastic dynamics conserving momentum and energy. We compute explicitly the time correlation function of the energy current $C_J(t)$, and we find that it behaves, for large time, like $t^{-d/2}$ in the unpinned cases, and like $t^{-d/2-1}$ when an on-site harmonic potential is present. This result clarifies the role of conservation of momentum in the anomalous thermal conductivity in low dimensions.

By means of direct numerical simulations (DNS) based on the integrodifferential Zakharov equation, we study the long-term evolution of nonlinear random water wave fields. For the first time, formation of powerlike Kolmogorov-type spectra corresponding to weak-turbulent inverse cascade is demonstrated by DNS, and the evolution in time of the resulting spectra is quantitatively investigated. The predictions of the statistical theory for water waves, both qualitative (formation of the direct and inverse cascades, self-similar behavior) and quantitative (the spectra exponents, specific shape of self-similar functions, the rate of time evolution) are found to be in good agreement with the DNS results, except for the initial part of the evolution, where the established statistical theory is not applicable yet and the evolution has a much faster time scale.

The clustering characteristic of purely hydrodynamically interacting particles suspended in pressure-driven flow in a circular cylinder is studied using direct numerical simulation based on the solution of the lattice-Boltzmann equation. We find a universal scaling relation for the cluster size distribution in the subcritical regime for all of the cases considered in this study. This scaling relation is independent of particle shape and concentration.

A new method to determine a coupling function in a phase model is theoretically derived for coupled self-sustained oscillators and applied to Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) oscillators. The synchronous behavior of two coupled BZ reactors is explained extremely well in terms of the coupling function thus obtained. This method is expected to be applicable to weakly coupled multioscillator systems, in which mutual coupling among nearly identical oscillators occurs in a similar manner. The importance of higher-order harmonic terms involved in the coupling function is also discussed.

The precise observation of the angle-frequency spectrum of light filaments in water reveals a scenario incompatible with current models of conical emission (CE). Its description in terms of linear X-wave modes leads us to understand filamentation dynamics requiring a phase- and group-matched, Kerr-driven four-wave-mixing process that involves two highly localized pumps and two X waves. CE and temporal splitting arise naturally as two manifestations of this process.

Direct measurements of the bulk flow of a ferrofluid in a uniform rotating magnetic field were obtained using the ultrasonic velocity profile method. The fluid was observed to corotate with the field in a rigid-body-like fashion throughout the bulk of the container, except near the air-fluid interface, where it was observed to counterrotate. The results were found in qualitative agreement with the spin diffusion theory of Zaitsev and Shliomis [J. Appl. Mech. Tech. Phys. 10, 696 (1969)].

The effect of anisotropy on the statistics of a passive tracer transported by a turbulent flow is investigated. We show that under broad conditions an arbitrarily small amount of anisotropy propagates to the large scales where it eventually dominates the structure of the concentration field. This result is obtained analytically in the framework of an exactly solvable model and confirmed by numerical simulations of scalar transport in two-dimensional turbulence.

We report the results of experiments about the inversion of ghost diffraction with pseudothermal light. A complete retrieval of the complex transmission function of planar transparencies, illuminated by spatially incoherent, quasimonochromatic light, is achieved. This is obtained by measuring the field (instead of the intensity) correlation function. In particular, the determination of the phase of the correlation function is made particularly easy and robust by the use of a suitably modified Young interferometer. The presented results refer to the cases of a clear slit and a phase step.

We have measured the spatial and spectral dependence of the microwave field inside an open absorbing waveguide filled with randomly juxtaposed dielectric slabs in the spectral region in which the average level spacing exceeds the typical level width. Whenever lines overlap in the spectrum, the field exhibits multiple peaks within the sample. Only then is substantial energy found beyond the first half of the sample. When the spectrum throughout the sample is decomposed into a sum of Lorentzian lines plus a broad background, their central frequencies and widths are found to be essentially independent of position. Thus, this decomposition provides the electromagnetic quasimodes underlying the extended field in nominally localized samples. These quasimodes may exhibit multiple peaks in space when they overlap spectrally.

This exposition describes a novel heat transport model and an underlying unified theory emanating from the physics of the Boltzmann transport equation which acknowledges simultaneously the coexistence of that termed as slow $C$ processes (at low energies) and fast $F$ processes (at high energies) as heat carriers while describing the evolution of heat transport characteristics spanning both spatial scales (characterizing ballistic to diffusive limits), and also time scales (characterizing finite to infinite heat propagation speeds).

An antenna model is proposed for long ($L\gg \lambda$) lasers with subwavelength cross sections (wire lasers). It is shown that the far-field pattern of the wire lasers is determined by the ratio of the wavelength to the length. The radiation of the wire laser is predicted to be concentrated in a narrow beam $\Theta \simeq \sqrt{2\lambda /L}$ for laser modes where the longitudinal phase velocity is in synchronism with the velocity of light in air. Experimental results obtained using a terahertz quantum cascade wire laser are in agreement with the model.

We study the transition between laminar and turbulent states in a Galerkin representation of a parallel shear flow, where a stable laminar flow and a transient turbulent flow state coexist. The regions of initial conditions where the lifetimes show strong fluctuations and a sensitive dependence on initial conditions are separated from the ones with a smooth variation of lifetimes by an object in phase space which we call the “edge of chaos.” We describe techniques to identify and follow the edge, and our results indicate that the edge is a surface. For low Reynolds numbers we find that the surface coincides with the stable manifold of a periodic orbit, whereas at higher Reynolds numbers it is the stable set of a higher-dimensional chaotic object.

A solid object can be coated by a nonwetting liquid since a receding contact line cannot exceed a critical speed. In this Letter we study the dynamical wetting transition at which a liquid film gets deposited by withdrawing a vertical plate out of a liquid reservoir. It has recently been predicted that this wetting transition is critical with diverging time scales and coincides with the disappearance of stationary menisci. We demonstrate experimentally and theoretically that the transition is due to the formation of a solitary wave, well below the critical point. As a consequence, relaxation times remain finite at threshold. The structure of the liquid deposited on the plate involves a capillary ridge that does not trivially match the Landau-Levich film.

We present our experimental demonstration of self-collimation inside a three-dimensional (3D) simple cubic photonic crystal at microwave frequencies. The photonic crystal was designed with unique dispersion property and fabricated by a high precision computer-controlled machine. The self-collimation modes were excited by a grounded waveguide feeding and detected by a scanning monopole. Self-collimation of electromagnetic waves in the 3D photonic crystal was demonstrated by measuring the 3D field distribution, which was shown as a narrow collimated beam inside the 3D photonic crystal but a diverged beam in the absence of the photonic crystal.

In this Letter, we present a method that removes the contribution of the boundaries on the measurements from highly scattering media, transforming the signals captured from a bounded medium to measurements that would have been obtained if no boundary were present. This approach opens new possibilities in tomographic imaging in diffuse media as it eliminates the need for explicitly modeling boundaries and significantly simplifies reconstruction requirements.

We report a novel and spectacular instability of a fluid surface in a rotating system. In a flow driven by rotating the bottom plate of a partially filled, stationary cylindrical container, the shape of the free surface can spontaneously break the axial symmetry and assume the form of a polygon rotating rigidly with a speed different from that of the plate. With water, we have observed polygons with up to 6 corners. It has been known for many years that such flows are prone to symmetry breaking, but apparently the polygonal surface shapes have never been observed. The creation of rotating internal waves in a similar setup was observed for much lower rotation rates, where the free surface remains essentially flat [J. M. Lopez et al., J. Fluid Mech. 502, 99 (2004).]. We speculate that the instability is caused by the strong azimuthal shear due to the stationary walls and that it is triggered by minute wobbling of the rotating plate.

Theoretical and experimental research, on the previously unresolved instability occurring along the slip stream of a shock-wave Mach reflection, is presented. Growth rates of the large-scale Kelvin-Helmholtz shear flow instability are used to model the evolution of the slip-stream instability in ideal gas, thus indicating secondary small-scale growth of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability as the cause for the slip-stream thickening. The model is validated through experiments measuring the instability growth rates for a range of Mach numbers and reflection wedge angles. Good agreement is found for Reynolds numbers of $\mathrm{Re}>2\times {10}^4$. This work demonstrates, for the first time, the use of large-scale models of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in modeling secondary turbulent mixing in hydrodynamic flows, a methodology which could be further implemented in many important secondary mixing processes.

We report on the demonstration of a high finesse micro-optomechanical system and identify potential applications ranging from optical cooling to weak force detection to massive quantum superpositions. The system consists of a high quality $30\mu \mathrm{m}$ diameter flat dielectric mirror cut from a larger substrate with a focused ion beam and attached to an atomic force microscope cantilever. Cavity ring-down measurements performed on a 25 mm long Fabry-Pérot cavity with the $30\mu \mathrm{m}$ mirror at one end show an optical finesse of 2100. Numerical calculations show that the finesse is not diffraction limited and that orders of magnitude higher finesse should be possible. A mechanical quality factor of more than ${10}^5$ at pressures below ${10}^{-3}\mathrm{mbar}$ is demonstrated for the cantilever with a mirror attached.