The complex aerodynamic footprint of desert locusts revealed by large-volume tomographic particle image velocimetry.

Particle image velocimetry has been the preferred experimental technique with which to study the aerodynamics of animal flight for over a decade. In that time, hardware has become more accessible and the software has progressed from the acquisition of planes through the flow field to the reconstruction of small volumetric measurements. Until now, it has not been possible to capture large volumes that incorporate the full wavelength of the aerodynamic track left behind during a complete wingbeat cycle. Here, we use a unique apparatus to acquire the first instantaneous wake volume of a flying animal's entire wingbeat. We confirm the presence of wake deformation behind desert locusts and quantify the effect of that deformation on estimates of aerodynamic force and the efficiency of lift generation. We present previously undescribed vortex wake phenomena, including entrainment around the wing-tip vortices of a set of secondary vortices borne of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in the shear layer behind the flapping wings.

Optic cavitation in an ultrasonic field.

Cavitation bubbles are generated in water by low-energy femtosecond laser pulses in the presence of an ultrasonic field. Bubble dynamics and cavitation luminescence are investigated by CCD photography and photomultiplier measurements in dependence on the phase of the acoustic cycle at which the bubbles are generated. The experimental results demonstrate that the initially small laser-generated bubbles can be expanded significantly by the sound field and that weak cavitation luminescence can be observed in two small intervals of the seeding phase. The luminescence yield sensitively depends on the degree of sphericity of bubble collapse.