Mixing by polymers: experimental test of decay regime of mixing.

By using high molecular weight fluorescent passive tracers with different diffusion coefficients and by changing the fluid velocity we study the dependence of a characteristic mixing length on the Peclet number, Pe, which controls the mixing efficiency. The mixing length is found to be related to Pe by a power law, L(mix) proportional, variant Pe0.26+/-0.01, and increases faster than expected for an unbounded chaotic flow. The role of the boundaries in the mixing length abnormal growth is clarified. The experimental findings are in good quantitative agreement with recent theoretical predictions.