The scattering of light by a chaotically convecting fluid

Abstract

The way in which light, scattered by a thin layer of fluid, may be used to obtain quantitative information about the temperature field in the fluid is investigated. Expressions for the phase shift imposed by the fluid, and the intensity of the scattered light are derived in terms of the Fourier representation of the temperature field, under the assumption of small variations in the refractive index. The method is applied to the particular case of chaotic convection, with a view to studying the connection between strange attractors and turbulence. Two simple mathematical models of chaotic convection are studied; particular emphasis is attached to the statistical properties of the flow and of the scattered light field, which are calculated numerically.