The development of initial disturbances is relevant to the understanding of
atomization processes in which droplets are generated by the breakup of a
liquid jet. We theoretically and experimentally demonstrate that such distu
rbances can be characterized by rainbow sizing. More specifically, for a li
quid jet with a diameter of 600 mu m, disturbances in the range from 10 nm
to 0.2 mu m are accessible. (C) 1998 Optical Society of America. OCIS codes
: 290.0290, 290.4020, 290.5820, 290.5850, 120.0120, 120.5820.