Hyperbolic kaleidoscopes and Chaos in foams and Hele-Shaw cell

Liquid foams have fascinating optical properties, which are caused by the large number of light refractions and reflections by liquid films and Plateau borders. Due to refraction and reflection at the interfaces, the direction of the rays leaving a Plateau border can vary greatly for the same incident angle and a small positional offset. A close look in some configurations of the Plateau borders or liquid bridges reveals the existence of some triangular patterns surrounded by a complex structure, and these patterns bear a resemblance to those observed in some systems involving chaotic scattering and multiple light reflections between spheres. Provided the optical properties of the sphere surfaces are chosen appropriately, fractals are natural consequences of multiple scattering of light rays in these cavities. The cavity acts as a hyperbolic kaleidoscope multiplying the scattering of light rays generating patterns related to Poincare disks and Sierpinski gaskets in comparison to linear kaleidoscopes. We present some experimental results and simulations of these patterns explained by the light of the chaotic scattering.