title: Localized instability on the route to disorder in Faraday waves.
abstract: We experimentally investigate how disorder comes about in parametrically excited waves on a fluid surface (Faraday waves). We find that the transition from an ordered pattern to disorder corresponding to "defect-mediated turbulence" is mediated by a spatially incoherent oscillatory phase. This phase consists of highly damped waves that propagate through the effectively elastic lattice defined by the pattern. They have a well-defined frequency, velocity, and transverse polarization. As these waves decay within a few lattice spaces, they are spatially and temporally uncorrelated at larger scales.
authors.affiliation: The Racah Institute of Physics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel.
authors.forename: Itamar
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Shani
authors.forename: Gil
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: Jay
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fineberg