MULTIFRACTAL STRUCTURES IN ELECTRO-CONVECTIVE TURBULENCE

The experimental evidences of spatial intermittency are shown for the first time in a nematic liquid crystal, when a strong turbulence is in duced by an external oscillating electric field. The intermittency can be safely described by a multifractal theory which predicts the exist ence of the singularity spectrum f(alpha) relative to the singularitie s alpha of the distortion energy (the analog of the dissipation fields in the isotropic fluid framework). A direct measurement of f(alpha), for different values of the amplitude of the applied electric field, i s presented. Furthermore the usual turbulence-turbulence transition is examined and described by means of an enhancement of the intermittenc y, due to the creation of strongest singularities.