Abstract
Microscopic observations of concentration fluctuations in the range 1–500 μm have been performed in a number of binary fluids near their critical temperature (T c). A heterodyne technique has been used. The temperature range (T-T c = 1–25 mK) is such that the sizes of the fluctuations are larger than or equal to the correlation length, measured usually as the inverse half-width of the structure factor of the fluctuations. Image analysis has given some information about the free energy of the system determined from the intensity distribution function. Also, the shape of the fluctuations can be studied. These are self-similar over more than three decades, with a fractal dimension of D f = 2.8. This value is compared with a number of theoretical predictions.
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Beysens, D., Guenoun, P. & Perrot, F. Direct observation of critical fluctuations in a binary mixture. Int J Thermophys 11, 37–48 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00503857
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00503857