Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 144503 (2003) [4 pages]Laser-Induced Hydrodynamic Instability of Fluid Interfaces
See accompanying Physics Focus We report on a new class of electromagnetically driven fluid interface instability. Using the optical radiation pressure of a cw laser to bend a very soft near-critical liquid-liquid interface, we show that it becomes unstable for sufficiently large beam power P, leading to the formation of a stationary beam-centered liquid microjet. We explore the behavior of the instability onset by tuning the interface softness with temperature and varying the size of the exciting beam. The instability mechanism is experimentally demonstrated. It simply relies on total reflection of light at the deformed interface whose condition provides the universal scaling relation for the onset PS of the instability. © 2003 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.144503
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.144503
PACS:
47.20.Ma, 42.25.Gy, 42.50.Vk, 82.70.Kj
See AlsoReply: H. M. Lai, Comment on “Laser-Induced Hydrodynamic Instability of Fluid Interfaces”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 049401 (2004). Reply: Alexis Casner and Jean-Pierre Delville, Casner and Delville Reply:, Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 049402 (2004). |
|
About | Terms and Conditions | Subscriptions | Search | Help
Use of the American Physical Society websites and journals implies that the user has read and agrees to our Terms and Conditions and any applicable Subscription Agreement. Physical Review®, Physical Review Letters®, Reviews of Modern Physics®, and Physical Review Special Topics® are trademarks of the American Physical Society.