High Speed 3D Scanning
A video showing how the 3D scanning is built up from layers imaged one at a time. (See “High-speed two-color scanning volumetric laser-induced fluorescence,” for more information.)
An example of a 3D scanned experiment, with a detail showing line and particle tracking inside the flow.
A Primer on Vortex Knots
A short video about vortex knots made for the 2013 APS Divison of Fluid Dynamics Gallery of Fluid Motion. This video was the winner of a Milton Van Dyke Award.

[The complete video (including a higher resolution version) can be downloaded from the arXiv.]
The Wavefunction of a Complex Superfluid Vortex Knot

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An illustration of the initial wavefunction for a complicated superfluid vortex tangle (vortex core in light blue). The first part of the movie shows the phase along a plane through the middle of the volume, along with a varying phase isosurface. The second part of the movie shows just the phase isosurfaces.

Evolving Topology of a Vortex Link
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A high speed video of linked vortices in experiment, showing how the helicity evolves as the vortices unlink (upper right graph). Although the helicity changes slowly, it is continuous through reconnection events despite the fact that the topology changes dramatically. This process can be regarded as an efficient conversion of the initial linked state to a coiled structure, indicated in the ‘helistogram’ on the lower right.

See also:Helicity conservation by flow across scales in reconnecting vortex links and knots,” Dustin Kleckner, Martin W. Scheeler, Davide Proment, Gordon L. Kindlmann, and William T. M. Irvine, PNAS 111, 15350 (2014).

Popping a Bubble in High Speed
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A high-speed video of a soap bubble popping, taken at the 2013 University of Chicago Physics with a Bang Open House. Recorded at 20,000 FPS, played back at 1/1000th real speed. The bubble is backlit with a narrow-spectrum sodium vapor lamp, resulting in the visible interference fringes.

High Speed Volumetric Imaging of a Vortex Knot
[Direct Download]
A high-speed 3D reconstruction of a trefoil vortex knot going through several vortex reconnection events (one of which is zoomed in). Intended to be viewed with red-cyan 3D glasses.

See also:Creation and dynamics of knotted vortices,” Dustin Kleckner and William T. M. Irvine, Nature Physics 9, 253 (2013).

External Research Videos

Nova: Knotty Thrills

NPR Science Friday: Tying Water in a Knot