  We present the results of a combined experimental and numerical study of the
generation of internal waves using the novel internal wave generator design of
Gostiaux et al. (2007). This mechanism, which involves a tunable source
comprised of oscillating plates, has so far been used for a few fundamental
studies of internal waves, but its full potential has yet to be realized. Our
studies reveal that this approach is capable of producing a wide variety of
two-dimensional wave fields, including plane waves, wave beams and discrete
vertical modes in finite-depth stratifications. The effects of discretization
by a finite number of plates, forcing amplitude and angle of propagation are
investigated, and it is found that the method is remarkably efficient at
generating a complete wave field despite forcing only one velocity component in
a controllable manner. We furthermore find that the nature of the radiated wave
field is well predicted using Fourier transforms of the spatial structure of
the wave generator.
