The present work describes the development and application of rainbow schlieren deflectometry technique for the investigation of the three-dimensional concentration field around a crystal growing from its aqueous solution. The imaging technique employs a diverging beam of light to record the projection data of the concentration field. In contrast to the conventional schlieren methods, the present system makes use of a microscopic objective lens to act as the de-collimating lens for focusing the light beam onto the color filter to get the desired schlieren effect. In order to record the projection data of the concentration field from different view angles for tomographic reconstruction, the experiments are conducted in an octagonal growth cell. Detailed quantitative analysis of the schlieren images has then been carried out for each view angle to determine the path-integrated concentration distribution. Principles of tomography have been employed for the reconstruction of concentration field at select horizontal planes above the growing crystal. Results have been presented in the form of rainbow schlieren images of the convective field, path-averaged solute concentration distribution around the growing for each view angle and local concentration distribution at select horizontal planes above the crystal top surface. Recorded color schlieren images have been compared with those of the conventional monochrome schlieren and interferometric techniques for the same experimental conditions. The extent of color re-distribution as seen from the recorded rainbow schlieren images correlate well with the bright intensity regions of monochrome schlieren images and the extent of fringe deformation in the interferometric images. The comparison has been performed for a small as well as a comparatively larger-sized crystal. For small sized crystal, the observed color redistribution is seen to be weak and restricted to the crystal vicinity only whereas the color changes are more pronounced for larger sized crystal. Results of the quantitative analysis of the two-dimensional schlieren images as well as of tomographic reconstructions clearly show the presence of high concentration gradients around the growing crystal surfaces and the gradients are seen to diminish as one moves towards the bulk solution. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.