Formation of turbulence of capillary waves is studied in laboratory
experiments. The spectra show multiple exponentially decreasing harmonics of
the parametrically excited wave which nonlinearly broaden with the increase in
forcing. Spectral broadening leads to the development of the spectral continuum
which scales as ∝f−2.8, in agreement with the weak turbulence
theory (WTT) prediction. Modulation instability of capillary waves is shown to
be responsible for the transition from discrete to broadband spectrum. The
instability leads to spectral broadening of the harmonics, randomization of
their phases, it isolates the wave field from the wall, eventually allows the
transition from 4- to 3-wave interactions as the dominant nonlinear process,
thus creating the prerequisites assumed in WTT.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure
