Observation of the Nonlinear Dispersion Relation and Spatial Statistics of Wave Turbulence on the Surface of a Fluid

We report experiments on gravity-capillary wave turbulence on the surface of a fluid. The wave amplitudes are measured simultaneously in time and space by using an optical method. The full space-time power spectrum shows that the wave energy is localized on several branches in the wave-vector-frequency space. The number of branches depends on the power injected within the waves. The measurement of the nonlinear dispersion relation is found to be well described by a law suggesting that the energy transfer mechanisms involved in wave turbulence are restricted not only to purely resonant interaction between nonlinear waves. The power-law scaling of the spatial spectrum and the probability distribution of the wave amplitudes at a given wave number are also measured and compared to the theoretical predictions.