Being a multi-scale system involving many phenomena, and a versatile medium, foam can be studied using many different techniques. Considering the different scales, experimental techniques are diffraction ones, mainly light scattering techniques (DWS, see below, static and dynamic light scattering, X-rays and neutron scattering) at sub-micrometer scales, or microscopic ones. Considering the system as continuous, its bulk properties can be characterized by light transmittance but also conductimetry. The correlation between structure and bulk is evidenced more accurately by acoustics in particular. The organisation between bubbles has been studied numerically using sequential attempts of evolution of the minimum surface energy either at random (Potts model) or deterministic way (surface evolver). The evolution with time (i.e., the dynamics) can be simulated using these models, or the bubble model' (Durian), which considers the motion of individual bubbles.
Observations of the small-scale structure can be made by shining the foam with laser light or x-ray beams and measuring the reflectivity of the films between bubbles. Observations of the global structure can be done using neutron scattering.
A typical light scattering (or diffusion) optical technique, multiple light scattering coupled with vertical scanning, is the most widely used technique to monitor the dispersion state of a product, hence identifying and quantifying destabilization phenomena. It works on any concentrated dispersions without dilution, including foams. When light is sent through the sample, it is backscattered by the bubbles. The backscattering intensity is directly proportional to the size and volume fraction of the dispersed phase. Therefore, local changes in concentration (drainage, syneresis) and global changes in size (ripening, coalescence) are detected and monitored.