Visualization of velocity and temperature fields in a Rayleigh-Bénard convection cell

This video shows parts of the raw data published in the paper “On the application of a supercontinuum white light laser for simultaneous measurements of temperature and velocity fields using thermochromic liquid crystals“. A white light laser (SuperK Extreme, NKT Photonics) illuminates thermochromic liquid crystals (TLC of type R20C20W, LCR Hallcrest) suspended in water inside a Rayleigh-Bénard cell from the left hand side. The TLCs act as tracer particles and temperature sensors at the same time. While particle displacement is determined applying Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), the temperature of the TLCs is obtained by evaluating their reflected color. The color play of the TLCs is counter intuitive. While cold plums of red color are falling down, hot plumes of blue color rises up.