Oscillatory Doubly Diffusive Convection: Theory and Experiment

Doubly diffusive convection in its various forms offers an excellent opportunity to study the dynamics near a Hopf bifurcation in a continuous system. Over the last year theoretical and numerical studies have been complemented by a number of new experiments on binary fluid mixtures revealing a richness of behavior that has in turn stimulated further theoretical effort. It is the purpose of this brief report to compare existing theory with the experiments, and indicate directions for further research.