A classic experimental movie made by the Manchester low temperature physics group around 1998-2000.

It shows a chaotic state of convection in a layer of liquid Helium, heated from below. The liquid is at about 3K --- 3 degrees above absolute zero. The light and dark areas are cold downflows and warm upflows, visualized by passing light through the liquid and imaging the resulting "shadowgraph" patterns using a CCD camera which is also at low temperature.

This is a very difficult experiment!

This movie is simply called "Run 115".

See

A.L. Woodcraft et al, J. Low Temp. Phys., 114, 109 (1999).
link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A%3A1021849819891

R.G. Matley et al, Phys. Rev. E 63, 045301(R) (2001),
link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevE.63.045301

M. J. Lees etc al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 144502 (2004) .
link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.144502

Tags:   benard chaos convection emergence experiment formation instability pattern patternformation physics rayleigh

© All Rights Reserved

A classic experimental movie made by the Manchester low temperature physics group around 1998-2000.

It shows a chaotic state of convection in a layer of liquid Helium, heated from below. The liquid is at about 3K --- 3 degrees above absolute zero. The light and dark areas are cold downflows and warm upflows, visualized by passing light through the liquid and imaging the resulting "shadowgraph" patterns using a CCD camera which is also at low temperature.

This is a very difficult experiment!

This movie is simply called "Run 112".

See

A.L. Woodcraft et al, J. Low Temp. Phys., 114, 109 (1999).
link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A%3A1021849819891

R.G. Matley et al, Phys. Rev. E 63, 045301(R) (2001),
link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevE.63.045301

M. J. Lees etc al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 144502 (2004) .
link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.144502

Tags:   chaos convection emergence nonlinear pattern patternformation physics spiral benard experiment formation instability

© All Rights Reserved

The Manchester low temperature convection experiment:

Movies of thermal convection in liquid Helium close to absolute zero.

The light and dark areas are cold downflows and warm upflows, visualized by passing light through the liquid helium and imaging the resulting "shadowgraph" patterns using a CCD camera which is also at low temperature.

Movies provided by Peter Lucas


See the detailed memoir by Peter Lucas in the description of this album:
www.flickr.com/photos/nonlin/sets/72157648205587122/

See also

A.L. Woodcraft et al, J. Low Temp. Phys., 114, 109 (1999).
link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A%3A1021849819891

R.G. Matley et al, Phys. Rev. E 63, 045301(R) (2001),
link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevE.63.045301

M. J. Lees etc al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 144502 (2004) .
link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.144502

The movie and image titles give the experimental conditions.

The first number is a figure number referred to in the memoir. The other numbers are: T, the temperature of the upper cell boundary; Pr, the Prandtl number of the helium; G, the aspect ratio of the cell; ep, the ratio of the difference between the power applied to the lower boundary and the critical power at the convection threshold to the critical power; e, the ratio of the Rayleigh number minus the critical Rayleigh to the critical Rayleigh number; P the actual power in microwatts; fps the number of frames per second; t, the time period between frames and finally the run number of the image sequence. Note that when fps is 8, this means that the fps was really 24, but each image is shown 3 times to improve the visual effect. Where the data is not available … follows the symbol.

Tags:   liquid helium cryogenic convection experiment physics low temperature spiral defect chaos pattern formation patternformation

© All Rights Reserved

The Manchester low temperature convection experiment:

Movies of thermal convection in liquid Helium close to absolute zero.

The light and dark areas are cold downflows and warm upflows, visualized by passing light through the liquid helium and imaging the resulting "shadowgraph" patterns using a CCD camera which is also at low temperature.

Movies provided by Peter Lucas


See the detailed memoir by Peter Lucas in the description of this album:
www.flickr.com/photos/nonlin/sets/72157648205587122/

See also

A.L. Woodcraft et al, J. Low Temp. Phys., 114, 109 (1999).
link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A%3A1021849819891

R.G. Matley et al, Phys. Rev. E 63, 045301(R) (2001),
link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevE.63.045301

M. J. Lees etc al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 144502 (2004) .
link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.144502

The movie and image titles give the experimental conditions.

The first number is a figure number referred to in the memoir. The other numbers are: T, the temperature of the upper cell boundary; Pr, the Prandtl number of the helium; G, the aspect ratio of the cell; ep, the ratio of the difference between the power applied to the lower boundary and the critical power at the convection threshold to the critical power; e, the ratio of the Rayleigh number minus the critical Rayleigh to the critical Rayleigh number; P the actual power in microwatts; fps the number of frames per second; t, the time period between frames and finally the run number of the image sequence. Note that when fps is 8, this means that the fps was really 24, but each image is shown 3 times to improve the visual effect. Where the data is not available … follows the symbol.

Tags:   liquid helium cryogenic convection experiment physics low temperature spiral defect chaos pattern formation patternformation

© All Rights Reserved

The Manchester low temperature convection experiment:

Movies of thermal convection in liquid Helium close to absolute zero.

The light and dark areas are cold downflows and warm upflows, visualized by passing light through the liquid helium and imaging the resulting "shadowgraph" patterns using a CCD camera which is also at low temperature.

Movies provided by Peter Lucas


See the detailed memoir by Peter Lucas in the description of this album:
www.flickr.com/photos/nonlin/sets/72157648205587122/

See also

A.L. Woodcraft et al, J. Low Temp. Phys., 114, 109 (1999).
link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A%3A1021849819891

R.G. Matley et al, Phys. Rev. E 63, 045301(R) (2001),
link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevE.63.045301

M. J. Lees etc al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 144502 (2004) .
link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.144502

The movie and image titles give the experimental conditions.

The first number is a figure number referred to in the memoir. The other numbers are: T, the temperature of the upper cell boundary; Pr, the Prandtl number of the helium; G, the aspect ratio of the cell; ep, the ratio of the difference between the power applied to the lower boundary and the critical power at the convection threshold to the critical power; e, the ratio of the Rayleigh number minus the critical Rayleigh to the critical Rayleigh number; P the actual power in microwatts; fps the number of frames per second; t, the time period between frames and finally the run number of the image sequence. Note that when fps is 8, this means that the fps was really 24, but each image is shown 3 times to improve the visual effect. Where the data is not available … follows the symbol.

Tags:   liquid helium cryogenic convection experiment physics low temperature spiral defect chaos pattern formation patternformation

© All Rights Reserved