FARADAY WAVE TURBULENCE ON A SPHERICAL LIQUID SHELL

Millimeter-radius liquid shells are acoustically levitated in an ultra sonic field. Capillary waves are observed on the shells. At low energi es (minimal acoustic amplitude, thick shell) a resonance is observed b etween the symmetric and antisymmetric thin film oscillation modes. At high energies (high acoustic pressure, thin shell) the shell becomes fully covered with high-amplitude waves. Temporal spectra of scattered light from the shell in this regime exhibit a power-law decay indicat ive of turbulence.