Spatiotemporal characterization of interfacial Faraday waves by means of a light absorption technique.

We present measurements of the complete spatiotemporal Fourier spectrum of Faraday waves. The Faraday waves are generated at the interface of two immiscible index matched liquids of different density. By use of a light absorption technique we are able to determine the bifurcation scenario from the flat surface to the patterned state for each complex spatial and temporal Fourier component separately.

Faraday instability on viscous ferrofluids in a horizontal magnetic field: oblique rolls of arbitrary orientation.

A linear stability analysis of the free surface of a horizontally unbounded ferrofluid layer of arbitrary depth subjected to vertical vibrations and a horizontal magnetic field is performed. A nonmonotonic dependence of the stability threshold on the magnetic field is found at high frequencies of the vibrations. The reasons for the decrease of the critical acceleration amplitude caused by a horizontal magnetic field are discussed.